Like a bad romance novel
by OrionFowl
Summary: Aoi Asahina made a simple request of Kyoko- to find out what Toko's deal with the Ultimate Swimmer is. Little does Aoi know this will lead into both her and Toko to become plunged into quite the despairing situation- and they must work together to make it out alive. Spoilers for Danganropa 1, 2, and Another Episode.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Well everyone, it's finally time for me to introduce my next, big project: An Aoi AsahinaXToko Fukawa shipping fic, or FukaHina as I call it. This fic will be about taking the tangled mess of feelings between these two girls and seeing the romance that blooms from there. Are you all ready to take this ride with me? Because if you are- it's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Like a bad romance novel: Prologue**

Kyoko Kirigiri sat down at her work desk in the Future Foundation, trying to think of the best way to write the report that she needed to send off to her superior. There was a very good chance that they would all in end up in some measure of trouble because of everything that happened. Not the least which being what Makoto was currently in the middle of doing right under their noses. Rationally speaking, everything Kyoko had done recently flew in the face of logic.

 _On the other hand, Makoto is good at getting people to see his point of view,_ Kyoko thought to herself, smirking. _And I do agree with him that the way things worked out was ultimately for the best._

So then, why leave anything out of the report? If the end result was going to be the same regardless, then Kyoko was going to give the Future Foundation all the information they wanted. Kyoko was a firm believer in the power of the truth. And the truth of this past incident was far, far stranger than any fiction.

Once Kyoko loaded her typewriter with paper, she settled her fingers in the appropriate positions to start typing. The clicking sound of the keys would help her keep focus during the more ludicrous parts of this explanation. If she remembered correctly, this all started when she, Makoto, and Aoi were sent to Towa city, to ascertain the situation after what happened with the Warriors of Hope…

* * *

"You gotta help me, Kyoko!"

Kyoko looked up from the set of reports that she was currently reading. It had been a month since the Future Foundation lost contact with Byakuya Togami and Toko Fukawa. As mutual survivors of the Killing Game, Kyoko, Makoto, and Aoi were all sent to Towa city to find them and bring them back. After setting up a base of operations in a safe hotel, Kyoko decided to send Makoto to find his sister Komaru, who was also missing, and Aoi to find Toko and Byakuya. It seemed this had not panned out, judging by Aoi's expression.

"I take it that the mission was a failure?" Kyoko asked.

"Not exactly. We found Toko and Komaru, but not Byakuya," Aoi explained.

"If you're having trouble finding Togami, why don't ask Fukawa for his whereabouts?" Even as she finished asking the question, however, Kyoko found she already had knew the answer. Toko would never do anything that she would perceive as harmful to Byakuya.

"Nevermind Byakuya! I need your help talking with Toko!" Aoi exclaimed.

"I am afraid I do not understand what you are asking of me, Asahina," Kyoko said. "Could you clarify what you're talking about?"

Aoi crossed her arms, deep in thought. Well, at least as deep in thought as she could manage. "Well, ever since we've met, I've been trying to become friends with Toko."

It said everything about what they'd all been through that Kyoko couldn't tell if Aoi was talking about before or after the Tragedy. Regardless, it seemed as if another of Aoi's attempts to befriend to writer had failed.

"I still do not understand what I have to do with this," Kyoko said, hoping Aoi would get to the point soon. They did not have the time for petty disputes.

"I want to be friends with Toko, I really do! But she just makes me so mad!" Aoi exclaimed. "Just when I think I'm getting somewhere with her, she just starts insulting me! And I'm tired of going in circles like this with her. So I need you to use your detective skills to find out why she doesn't like me."

Kyoko didn't know why she expected anything else. As a Kirigiri, it was not uncommon for the public to try and get them to solve their personal problems. However, Kyoko was not generally interested in dealing with these kinds of affairs. "First and foremost, that is not how being a detective works," Kyoko said, unamused. "Secondly, we have far more pressing matters at hand. I would like you to focus on those, Asahina."

If anything, this seemed to make Aoi angrier, as the girl puffed her cheeks out in indignation. "Yeah, well, we can't go back to the Future Foundation until we find Byakuya, right? Well, according to Makoto he can't get his sister to say a word about him. So unless one of us can get Toko to talk, we're not going anywhere!"

Kyoko's eyes widened in shock. Despite Aoi's deductive skills being… comparatively average, she was completely right about their current situation. They could not afford to return empty handed on their first official assignment. It seemed like there was no choice but to intervene personally.

"Fine. Lead me to where Fukawa and Naegi are staying, and I will see what I can do to make it easier to talk to Fukawa," Kyoko said.

And just like that, Aoi was all smiles. "I knew I could count on you, Kyoko!"

Kyoko had a feeling today was going to be a very long day.

* * *

As it turned out, Toko and Komaru were holed up in an abandoned apartment in a different building to the one where Kyoko was staying in with Makoto and Aoi. When Kyoko entered the apartment, she could hear the sound of Makoto talking with his sister in another room. From what Kyoko could hear, they were discussing Komaru's involvement in the Towa city incident, and Aoi was helping him, albeit with limited success.

Toko didn't look too happy to see Kyoko- but then Toko almost never looked happy to see anyone. This would not deter Kyoko from what she needed to do. So Kyoko cornered Toko in another room in the apartment, slowly putting herself into interrogation mode.

"If this is about where Byakuya is, forget it!" Toko shouted, glaring at the detective. "I'd sooner die than breathe a word about it!"

Just from that initial reaction, it seemed that Toko was her usual self. This was a good thing- it meant that the responses would likewise be the author's true feelings. Now, where would be the best place to start?

"Actually, I did not want to talk to you about Togami," Kyoko said, deciding to be direct. "I'd like to speak with you about Asahina."

For a split second, Kyoko could have sworn she saw pain in Toko's expression. It was gone in the next second, however, and Kyoko was unsure if it was truly there at all. After making a mental note of that, the detective awaited for Toko's response.

"I don't think I've ever met anyone as thickheaded as her in my entire life," Toko said, biting her thumb in frustration. "Like, geez, learn when to take a hint."

"You know, Aoi is truly interested in becoming your friend. She just isn't sure about how to approach you." Kyoko said, carefully observing the reaction this statement would garner.

"Why does she keep wasting her time on me? She should just leave me alone, like everyone else does!" Toko shouted. Kyoko couldn't help but find that statement interesting, given that Toko was currently living here with Komaru. Perhaps even though they were such close friends, Toko still feared being betrayed.

Kyko took out a notebook and jotted down her observations in it, to refer to later. In her personal opinion, perhaps Aoi really shouldn't bother trying to befriend Toko- the detective could see no opening in the author's walls. However, Kyoko's personal opinion did not matter right now, so instead she considered what to do next.

"If you recognize that Asahina is thickheaded, then surely you must recognize that she will not stop trying to befriend you," Kyoko finally said. "I am here to ascertain what you think of her, Fukawa. Then I will decide what will work out best from there."

"What I think of Aoi? What I think of her is…" That was when something completely unexpected happened- a pink blush lit up on Toko's cheeks and an unsettling smile spread on her face.

"She's an idiot. She's way too loud. And she's so thickheaded," Toko said, her words belied by the way she was poking her fingers together. "Always so distracting with that clueless grin of hers. Or with those large, large mounds."

Well then. This was the last thing Kyoko could have expected, and in fact she was beginning to regret doing this in the first place. It was too late to back out at this point, so Kyoko decided to interview someone else to draw the complete conclusion. "Fukawa, could I speak with Genocider Jill?"

"And Aoi uses her thick legs to- huh, what could you want to talk to her for?" Toko asked, thankfully cutting off whatever it was she was talking about.

"Do not concern yourself with that too much. Think of it as being excused from this interview," Kyoko said.

The moment that Kyoko said this Toko took out what appeared to be a stun gun and immediately shocked herself with it, slumping unconscious on the ground. In the next instant Genocider Jill shot up, laughing her distinct, crazed laughter.

"Hey there, Kyo-nut! Long time no see!" Genocider Jill said, waving her hand cheerfully.

It took a bit for Kyoko to untangle the nickname the serial killer had given her, and once she did the detective could feel a headache forming. This interview could not finish fast enough. "Hello. I was speaking with Toko regarding Asahina. Now I wish to hear your opinion of her."

This entire time, Kyoko took notes regarding Toko's answers and what they could mean. Now, Kyoko quickly wrote down everything she knew about the serial killer

"You mean Milk Jugs? I have a more than a few choice words for her," Genocider Jill said, taking out a couple of her scissors.

"Oh? Could you perhaps elaborate on what exactly you mean?" Kyoko asked, pen poised over her notebook. Jill's response here would be critical to what Kyoko would do from here on forth.

"Where do I start! Everything about her just pisses me off!" Jill shouted, brandishing her scissors. "Oh, having to look at her makes me want to start carving her right up. Don't you think that would make her look so much better? Ah ha ha ha ha!"

Kyoko almost dropped her pen. After accepting this request from Aoi this morning, the detective deduced various ways this encounter could play out. Not a single one of her deductions had come anywhere close to what the interview had actually revealed.

"Well, is that all you wanted to know? I've got better things to do than just stand here and talk with you, Kyo-nut," Jill said. "Like making sure this shithole doesn't get any worse!"

"You are dismissed, Genocider Jill," Kyoko said, still feeling distinctly dazed. It seemed like at the same time, Makoto and Aoi's interview with Komaru was wrapping up, as Komaru was exiting the room she was in, with Makoto and Aoi following behind her.

Kyoko looked down at her notebook, as if she could will the words within to become different if she stared at them hard enough.

* * *

Back in the hotel, Aoi immediately took Kyoko aside. "So what did you learn about Toko? And what were you talking with Genocider Jill about?" Aoi asked, a look of anticipation on her face.

Despite how… unusual this day ended up being, Kyoko was a Kirigiri. She'd been "hired" to uncover a truth, and now she was going to give that truth to her "client". If it made their job of finding Byakuya Togami easier, then even better.

"I interviewed both Fukawa and Genocider Jill to arrive at a full picture of their feelings towards you. And I am here to report that they both feel similarly towards you," Kyoko explained.

"Really? And what do you mean by that?" Aoi asked curiously.

"After listening to both their testimonies about you and comparing it to what I know about Toko and Genocider Jill, the most likely conclusion is that…" Kyoko found herself actually hesitating, and mentally pushed herself to finish her task. "They harbor an intensely repressed attraction towards you."

For a few minutes there was silence as Aoi processed Kyoko's words. Then she blushed a bright red. "You're joking, right?"

"I do not joke when it comes to these matters," Kyoko said simply.

Aoi blush grew worse. "So then- Toko seriously- she really feels that way about me?" Aoi sat down in a chair. "I don't know what to think about that."

"Do with that information what you will. My duty comes to an end here," Kyoko said. "If I am not mistaken, tomorrow Toko will patrol Towa city with Komaru. You may attempt to join them, if you wish."

"You know what? I think I will!" Aoi exclaimed, already bouncing back from her shock. "At least I know she doesn't hate me! That's a start!"

Before Kyoko could say anything to this, Aoi dashed right out of the room. The detective could only shake her head. Well, at least now she could wash her hands of this entire affair. From tomorrow on, she could focus on the more important task at hand.

* * *

 **A/N: And so begins a journey that will plunge into despair, and will see Toko and Aoi deal with a harrowing situation they find themselves in. Next chapter will be from Aoi's perspective, then we will see Toko's, and so on- anyone that reads TSOMS will be familiar with this style. Remember that I can always be found on my Tumblr Snowthefirst.** **Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	2. Towa city is definitely doomed

**A/N: I don't want to give the usual excuses of school for how late this next chapter is. I will say that I am now determined to focus on this story! So let's kick off the overall storyline with this first, official chapter. Let's see what our girls our getting up to in Towa city. Anyway, it's time for romance!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Towa City is definitely doomed**

The next morning, Kirigiri asked for Makoto and Aoi to meet in the main lobby of the hotel they were staying in. Aoi, however, was still thinking about everything that had occurred yesterday. Were Kyoko's deductions correct? As the Ultimate Detective, Kyoko had never led them wrong before.

But Aoi had a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that Toko was harboring an attraction towards her. The relationship between the two girls was (relatively) cordial now. Before that, however, it hit a lot of rocky patches because of the Killing Game. Aoi's desire to befriend Toko was partially motivated by the desire to make up for how Aoi damaged their bonds back then.

Kyoko would probably tell her not to bother, since Toko probably wouldn't make the same effort to fix their friendship. But something deep in Aoi told her the two of them could become friends. And if Kyoko was right about Toko's feelings, and one day the writer wanted to be more than friends… Aoi found herself shaking her head of those thoughts, feeling her face heat up. She would deal with that- later. Much, much, later.

"Asahina, are you paying attention?" Kyoko suddenly asked.

"Ah! Yes, I'm listening," Aoi said, feeling herself going redder from embarrassment. "So what were we talking about again?"

"You weren't actually listening at all, were you, Aoi," Makoto said, sweating.

Kyoko sighed, but went ahead and repeated her lecture. "We still need to locate Togami, and Naegi and Fukawa are our only leads. They plan to patrol the streets of Towa city, and I have deduced that Asahina would be best suited to go with them."

Asahina jumped up in her seat at these words. It would make an excellent chance to talk with Toko. Even so, Aoi felt a little bad that Kyoko would go through this all this effort for her.

"Well, Aoi is the friendliest of the three of us," Makoto said thoughtfully. "I can see her getting along with well with my sister."

Kyoko being Kyoko, she didn't react to the unintentionally insensitive part of Makoto's statement. Instead, the detective continued, "Makoto and I will stay here, in case trouble arises that we need to resolve. Asahina, take this walkie talkie. You can stay in contact with us here in the hotel with it. Radio us if you are in trouble and I will send him as back up."

"Why am I the backup in this plan?" Makoto asked.

"Logically speaking, it would not be wise to send both of us at once. It would be best to send you first, Makoto, so that I can stay in contact with you from here," Kyoko said with her usual cool headed attitude. "And if I lose contact with you, then I will intervene personally."

"You really thought this out, Kyoko!" Aoi said, impressed with the her logic.

"When you put it like that, I suppose I understand," Makoto said. "It's just that I don't feel comfortable letting Komaru out of my sight after reuniting with her like this."

"Aw, it's sweet that you care about your little sister," Aoi said. The swimmer talked with Komaru yesterday, and she seemed like Aoi's kind of girl, optimistic and perky.

Kyoko smiled at Makoto's concern. As understandable as your concern is, your sister has managed on her own for this long. And Asahina and Fukawa will be with her, so I do not believe she will be in any danger."

This did make Makoto feel a lot better, if his relieved expression was any indication. "I do trust Aoi and Toko to keep Komaru safe. Now hopefully they don't argue with each other like they usually do."

"We won't argue with each other!" Aoi immediately exclaimed. "In fact, I'm going to get along with Toko whether she wants to or not!"

"Somehow that doesn't reassure me," Makoto said, sweating. Kyoko could only shake her head in disbelief. Now even she was starting to have her doubts about this operation.

* * *

Regardless, they set their plan into motion. Aoi received a walkie talkie, which she placed in the pocket of her Future Foundation uniform. Next, she bid farewell to Makoto and Kyoko and made her way to the apartment complex where Toko and Komaru are were currently staying at. The city was still in bad shape, and the streets were empty.

Even so, Aoi heard that it used to be a lot worse before Toko and Komaru cleaned the place up, so Aoi found herself really impressed. Especially with Toko- the Toko that Aoi first met wouldn't have been capable of everything Aoi heard Toko did, but evidently the writer had grown a lot. So Aoi tried to maintain a positive attitude as she knocked on the door to their apartment.

"Hello, Komaru! Hello, Toko!" Aoi greeted cheerfully as the two girls answered the door.

"Oh, hello again Aoi!" Komaru greeted back. Toko, on the other hand, stood a few feet behind Komaru, gazing sullenly at the swimmer. "...What do you want?" Toko eventually asked.

"Well, Komaru told me that you plan on patrolling the streets, so I thought I'd join you!" Aoi said, pumping her fists. "I get restless when I just stand around and do nothing."

"You told Aoi we were doing that, Komaru? Why?" Toko said, glaring at Komaru.

"H-hey! Don't look at me like that, Toko!" Komaru said, stepping back from the writer. "I just thought we could use a little extra help today, while Aoi's still here."

Toko looked at Aoi, and for a moment Aoi couldn't read the writer's expression. The Toko said, "Fine, I guess she can come along." With that, Toko slunk back into the apartment.

For a moment there was silence, before Aoi and Komaru shared a knowing, sheepish smile with each other.

* * *

Just as Aoi thought, she and Komaru immediately got along with each other. While traveling through the streets of Towa city, Aoi learned that Komaru was kidnapped in her home, kept prisoner in an apartment, and wielded a special megaphone that she fought with. Aoi could see Makoto in Komaru, but Komaru had an energetic quirk to her that made her unique.

"So you're the Ultimate Swimmer? Then you must be pretty fit!" Komaru exclaimed, clearly interested in Aoi's talent.

"Uh huh! I make sure to work out every day," Aoi said proudly. "It helps keep my body in top shape! Although, not many people know that swimming is sometimes a team sport. For example, me and Yuta compare times with each other and compete for the best one."

Komaru giggled nervously. "Yes, I'm sure you and your brother must have shared a lot of good times with each other."

Aoi couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at this. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Yuta in a long time, and she heard from Kyoko that something may have happened to him- Aoi could feel a sinking feeling in her stomach upon hearing those words. Aoi wanted to believe he was okay, but both today and yesterday whenever she brought up Yuta, Komaru became very evasive.

Aoi didn't want to suspect anything, especially from Makoto's sister. But her behavior was very fishy. "Hey, Komaru-"

"Oh, of course your body would be fit."

Aoi started at the sound of Toko speaking for the first time since they started this patrol. The words made Aoi feel foreboding- she knew what usually followed when Toko spoke words like that.

"But I don't think Komaru wants to know all about the unsavory activities you get up to," Toko continued, her face going bright red. "Just what do you do in behind closed doors at the Future Foundation, I wonder?"

Despite saying earlier to Makoto she would get along with Toko, Aoi felt a familiar feeling of irritation. Now she was suddenly remembered a big reason why they didn't get along- they could never have a normal conversation. "Toko, are we really going to start this again?! We haven't seen each other in forever!"

"I don't think you needed to go that far," Komaru said, sighing with a familiar weariness. Even so, she also seemed to be relieved. And Aoi got a feeling that she was forgetting something important, but she couldn't think of what it could be.

"Why did I have to be here, again?" Toko asked, sinking back to her usual sour mood. "You and Komaru seem to be getting along without me."

Aoi flinched at this. Indeed, she had so much fun talking with Komaru she actually forgot about Toko. And given that Toko was the entire reason Aoi was on this patrol, Aoi couldn't help but feel guilty.

"I was hoping I could be friends with Komaru since she's your friend too!" Aoi said quickly. "I mean, you want to be in the Future Foundation, don't you Toko? I could try and get both of you in."

"Yeah, it would be good for us to have Aoi on our side, if we do decide to join them," Komaru added.

It seemed like their words reach Toko, as her foul aura receded slightly. "Tch. Having to rely on Aoi's help makes me feel like I've already lost."

Aoi sighed. "I heard you changed, Toko, but five minutes and it's like we're back in Hope's Peak Academy. I guess some things never change."

At this, Tenko actually smiled. "Having you get so angry at me almost makes me feel nostalgic. You were always bugging me and yelling at me back then."

"Well it's not like I want to yell at you," Aoi said. "But you really know how to get on my nerves, you know. And I'm pretty sure you do it on purpose, too!"

"Yup, I can definitely tell that you've both known each other for a long time," Komaru said, with a deadpan tone that was similar to her brother's.

* * *

They decided to camp out for the night in an abandoned subway tunnel. Toko and Komaru had their personal sleeping bags, worn by constant use. Aoi had a small tent that was provided by Kyoko, which she set up by herself. When Komaru and Toko went to got scouting, Aoi updated Kyoko and Makoto by walkie talkie. When they got back, the three girls had a dinner together, then Toko retired to sleep first. Aoi took this chance to talk with Komaru privately.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Komaru asked curiously.

"It's about Toko. You two seem pretty close," Aoi said. "And I guess I'm curious about how it happened. I mean, I've known Toko for a long time, and- well, you've seen how things usually go with us."

"Oh believe me, it was far from easy," Komaru said, quietly so she wouldn't wake Toko. "She even tried to kill me once, but this crazy girl was manipulating her and- it's a long story."

I have a feeling it has something to do with Byakuya, doesn't it," Aoi said, sighing again when Komaru nodded in confirmation. "She gets kinda… crazy when it comes to him."

"But you've refused to stop trying even after all this time," Komaru said in a reassuring tone. "I mean, Toko does seem to like you. She just pushes away everyone around her. I know she really tried with me."

Aoi once again felt a flash of guilt. In fact, Aoi did give up on Toko at one point, when Sakura died. Aoi raged against everyone in the Hope's Peak, and tried to get everyone killed, including herself. And Sakura being hurt wasn't even Toko's fault- it was Genocider Jill's fault, and that was something Toko couldn't help.

"No, I don't plan to give up on Toko, not after everything we've been through!" Aoi exclaimed. "I just don't know how to break her walls."

"This is going to sound weird, but don't try so hard." When Aoi gave Komaru a confused look, she continued, "I know that Toko tends to bait you, but you can't let her get to you. Don't give her the reaction she wants. Then you'll be making some progress with her!"

"Thanks for the advice, Koramu!" Aoi said, smiling at the younger girl. "I'm thankful that Toko has a friend like you!"

Komaru looked over to where Toko was sleeping. "After the kind of life that Toko has had, she really deserves better people in her life. And I feel like you would be really good for her. So I want to help you get along with her, too."

Aoi knew a few details of Toko's life, and she agreed with Komaru. More importantly, Aoi felt her determination burn brightly as a result of this conversation. Whatever happened in the past, Toko did deserve happiness in her life. And Aoi wanted to be one of the people to give it to her. Starting tomorrow, she would take Komaru's advice when dealing with Toko.

With that, Aoi turned in for the night and Komaru went to go scouting again. However, right as the conversation ended, a shadow at the top of the subway station stairs disappeared right before either girl could see it. And when Komaru exited the subway station, there was no one in the surrounding area.

* * *

 **A/N: By necessity, the romance between Aoi and Toko has to be slow burn. So I'm setting up a foundation here for their bonds to grow. Meanwhile Danganronpa fans can spot several plot thread I'm also setting up- keep an eye on them.** **Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	3. This got weird really fast

**A/N: It's the final chapter of the new year! And fitting enough, this is the last chapter of prelude. By the end of this chapter, the real plot is going to begin. So get ready to revisit familiar locations in Danganronpa in search of a looming threat. It's time for romance!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: This got weird really fast**

"I was afraid of this. I don't think Aoi will have much better luck than we did," Makoto said after Aoi finished her report. "Maybe we should just accept that we aren't going to learn about where Byakuya is from Toko or my sister."

"I will admit, the prospects are looking fairly low at the moment," Kyoko said. "However, as long as the smallest chance remains that Asahina will succeed, we must trust in her."

"I want to believe in Aoi too. We only have so much time here, though," Makoto said, a worried expression on his face. "If we take too long, then the Future Foundation won't be too happy with us."

This was true. Byakuya, as the last Togami, was an important person in the efforts to rebuild the world. So the Future Foundation wanted to secure his safety, which was why they sent his former classmates to retrieve him.

Unfortunately, they also didn't have unlimited resources to keep supplies like food delivered to the hotel Kyoko and crew were staying at indefinitely. If Kyoko was correct, they had at most a week before the Future Foundation came to inquire on the lack of progress.

* * *

Mornings were always the worst.

If Toko Fukawa could get away with it, she would sleep through every morning. In recent years, however, she was always being forced out of bed one reason or another. First it was the morning announcements from Monokuma while Toko was trapped in the Killing Game. During her initial trip through Towa city, Komaru often nagged Toko to wake up. This morning it was-

"Get up already, Toko! Komaru says we're about to leave!"

Aoi Asahina. One of Toko's classmates during their time at Hope's Peak and during the Killing Game. Toko could still remember Kyoko asking what she thought of the swimmer. And as always, Toko couldn't help but express her opinion in the most graphic manner possible. Every time Toko laid eyes on Aoi, her irritation burned with the intensity of the sun. Where did she get off, having such a large chest… and such toned legs… and most of all, the reason that Toko couldn't just say she disliked Aoi-

Where did Aoi get off, having such a bright, dumb smile on her face all the time? If anything made Toko absolutely furious about Aoi, it was that smile. At the same time, Toko couldn't say she hated that smile.

Because Toko knew. Toko knew that if Aoi learned what really happened to her brother, that smile would vanish in an instant. And Toko didn't want to do that to Aoi, which was why she didn't want Komaru letting the swimmer know either.

That didn't stop Toko from ignoring Aoi's initial calls for the writer to wake up. Only when Komaru joined in did Toko slowly drag herself out of bed, joining the other two girls outside of the subway station.

"Oh good, you're awake!" Aoi said when she spotted Toko.

"For today's patrol, we need to take a closer look at this neighborhood over here." Komaru pointed to the area on a map she had, the main landmark being a large hospital. "Some of the residents have spotted Monokumas wandering around here."

"Really? Wh-why are they popping up now of all times?" Toko asked. She did not want to have to deal with those annoying robots again. And given that it was the same hospital that she and Komaru explored a long while ago, Toko was beginning to get a feeling of deja vu.

"That's a good question. The Warriors of Hope are still behaving themselves like they said they would, so it's not them again," Komaru said. "The adults don't know much either- the most they've told me is that the entrance of the hospital got barricaded a couple of weeks ago."

Toko could tell by the look on Aoi's face that the swimmer was completely lost, which wasn't surprising. Thinking was not the tanned girl's strong suit. "So what are we doing? Are we beating up all these Monokumas until they're all gone?"

"That's a big part of it," Komaru said, smiling at Aoi's enthusiasm. "Mainly, we're investigating who might be responsible for this. Make sure to stay close to us, Aoi. We have experience fighting these robots and you don't."

"Thank you for worrying about me, Komaru, but I can handle myself!" Aoi exclaimed, pumping her fists.

"I almost feel sorry for the Monokumas that cross your path," Toko commented, smiling at the mental image of Aoi reducing the bears to scrap. This excursion would at least be good for blowing off steam.

"But it's true that you and Toko have a lot more experience beating these Monokuma bots," Aoi continued. "Does it have to do with that hair that's sticking out? Because you, your brother, and Toko all have it."

Toko didn't even know when her hair started sticking out in an ahoge. But no matter how often Toko or Genocider tried to get rid of it, the hair kept sticking back up. "If you want ridiculous hair like this, be my guest," Toko muttered under her breath.

"I like my hair just fine, thank you very much!" Aoi said, her ponytail as aggressive as her tone.

"Here we go again," Komaru said, sighing as Toko and Aoi fell into their usual bickering.

* * *

Making their way to the hospital area, the three girls could see various people milling about, contrasting the empty streets from yesterday. Aoi smiled and greeted everyone she passed by, happy that people were beginning to come back to this city.

Toko didn't share her optimism, but didn't go out of her way to puncture it either- it wasn't worth the effort. The writer was more concerned with making sure no one snuck up on them. Komaru was the same way, holding her hacking megaphone out in front of her and scanning the area.

Eventually they reached the area around the hospital, where there were indeed Monokuma robots patrolling the area. The front door was also barricaded with planks of woods that were nailed in place. "So it's true. Someone's taken up residence in this hospital, and they want to keep people out."

"Maybe it's someone that used to work here," Aoi suggested.

"And what? They came back because they think they're late for work?" Toko asked sarcastically.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas, Toko!" Aoi snapped.

"Well, we can't discount that," Komaru said, to ward off yet another argument. "The important thing is to take out the Monokumas and then get into the hospital."

Fortunately, this worked, as Toko got her taser ready in case Genocider Jill was needed. Meanwhile, Komaru primed her megaphone, and Aoi got herself into a martial arts pose.

"Wait, you know martial arts, Aoi?" Komaru said, looking at Aoi.

"Yeah… my best friend taught me," Aoi said, her entire demeanor radiating sadness. "She wanted me to be able to defend myself. Except she isn't around to teach me anymore."

"If Sakura was here we wouldn't even need to be here," Toko said. "She could probably tear her way into that hospital herself."

"She was really strong," Aoi said, smiling fondly. "So I gotta make sure I take out as many of these bears as I can!"

"That was surprisingly nice of you," Komaru whispered to Toko as Aoi went back to pumping herself up.

"I just couldn't stand that sad look on her face," Toko said, her words technically true. But the irritated look on her face belied the genuine concern in her tone.

* * *

Soon enough, the Komaru and Aoi were in the thick of a horde of Monokumas. Komaru was doing most of the fighting, firing bursts from her hacking megaphone that destroyed any Monokuma that got near her.

Aoi was putting up an impressive showing for her first real fight- her kicks were powerful enough to send Monokumas reeling, and she was dodging about the battlefield with surprising grace. Soon enough, there was a small pile of destroyed Monokumas surrounding the swimmer.

Toko was hanging in the back- she was only to switch to Genocider in a real emergency. As a result, she couldn't do much but watch Komaru and Aoi fight, and while she'd seen Komaru fight many times, she'd never really seen Aoi fight.

And Toko couldn't take her eyes off of Aoi. Aoi was having the time of her life, grinning as she kicked one Monokuma right into another, sending them both crashing into the wall of the hospital. "I can't tell you how long I've been wanting to do that!" Aoi shouted, looking back briefly to smile at Toko before going back to fighting. "Take that, you stupid bear!"

Toko felt her face began to heat up, and she almost used her taser on herself just to make it stop. The writer could still remember the look on Kyoko's face yesterday after their interview. Knew what she was probably thinking. And Kyoko was wrong! It didn't matter that she was the Ultimate Detective, this time she absolutely had to be wrong!

While Toko was having her internal crisis, Komaru stopped firing her hacking megaphone, a frown on her face. "That's weird. No matter how many of these Monokumas we destroy more just come from behind the hospital. And they're coming towards us, but they're not attacking us. It's almost like-"

"Master?"

Both Komaru and Aoi stopped to look at Toko, but Toko's eyes were fixed at some distant point in front of her. When they followed the writer's line of sight, they saw a shadow behind the hospital that looked very familiar. Toko immediately ran towards the shadow, a desperate look on her face.

"Is that you, Byakuya? Come back here!" Aoi yelled as she followed right behind Toko. Komaru tried to follow after them as well, but the Monokuma robots suddenly converged on her, blocking her way.

The same Monokuma robots likewise made no attempt to block Aoi or Toko's passage, and soon enough they were behind the hospital. However, Byakuya was nowhere to be found. "Are you playing hard to get, Master," Toko said, lost in her usual delusions. "Because you can't outrun me!"

Suddenly, someone smothered Toko's nose and mouth with a rag, and Toko could feel her consciousness fade away. Toko collapsed on the ground, and her eyesight was dimming. However, the last thing she saw was Aoi encountering a mysterious figure- Toko could only see their slipper clad feet. The figure used the same rag on Aoi- and that was the last thing Toko saw before everything went black.

* * *

 **A/N: Yes, the entire plot between Aoi and Toko will take place in the hospital from Another Episode. And never fear- I have made the perfect plot for this hospital, one that's a perfect fit for the Danganronpa universe.** **Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	4. Arbitrary Situation

**A/N: I've finally been able to return to this story after far too long. When we last left Aoi and Toko, they had just been attacked. So what has happened to them since then? And what of their friends? Read on to find out.** **It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Arbitrary Situation**

The last thing that Kyoko expected was for Komaru to suddenly burst into their hotel room. The young girl had a panicked look on her face. "I've finally found you! I've combed half the city looking for you two!" Komaru shouted.

"Why were you looking for us, Komaru?" Makoto asked.

"It's about Toko and Aoi! They've been kidnapped!" Komaru yelled, clearly at a total loss.

Kyoko walked up to Komaru and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Take a deep breath, Naegi. Once you've calmed down, carefully explain what happened."

Komaru followed Kyoko's instructions, which did succeed in calming her down. After that Komaru explained about the hospital being guarded by Monokumas, how she and Aoi fought them at first, and the mysterious shadow that lured Toko away with Aoi chasing after her.

Komaru wrapped up her explanation by saying, "I tried to chase after them too, but the Monokumas suddenly all swarmed me. Then I ran out of ammo for my megaphone, and I had run away. I don't know what happened to Toko and Aoi after that, but they haven't come back!"

"It's not your fault, Komaru," Makoto said, patting his little sister on her shoulder. "You did all you could."

"And given your description of these events, it seems like you all walked into a trap." When Makoto and Komaru turned to look at her, Kyoko continued, "Whoever did this clearly aimed to separate Naegi from Fukawa and Asahina. Not only that, but they knew to use at least the illusion of Byakuya to get Fukawa to run into their clutches."

"I see. Which is also why they wore Komaru down before chasing her away. Because her megaphone is the most effective weapon against the Monokumas," Makoto said thoughtfully. "The person in the hospital wanted Toko. Did they want Aoi as well, then?"

"It's hard to say at the moment. The fact that Asahina hasn't come back would seem to indicate that as a strong possibility," Kyoko said. "Another possibility is that Asahina has not been captured and she is looking for Fukawa."

"So what do we do now?" Komaru said, having recovered enough to have her fighting spirit back.

"If Aoi still has possession of her walkie talkie, she will contact us soon," Kyoko said. "Once she does, we can plan our next move with her."

"But what if Aoi doesn't have her walkie talkie, or-" Makoto stopped for a second, not wanting to speak the worst case scenario, saying instead, "She can't contact us for another reason?"

"In that case, we take matters into our own hands." Kyoko answered bluntly.

* * *

Aoi woke up with pain all over her body. Most of the pain seemed to be focused on her gut, so Aoi did her best to gain awareness of her surroundings. She was laying on a cot, dressed in only a thin white gown and her underwear. Looking around, Aoi could see similar cots in the room, and the floor was made of white tile. The walls were also white, but also dingy and covered in dark stains.

As far as Aoi could tell, it appeared that she was inside the hospital that the Monokumas were guarding. Aoi lay her hands on her torso, but appeared to be nothing wrong with it. The pain faded away as Aoi got on her feet, looking around to see if there was a way out.

The room she was in did have a door, but when Aoi tried to open the door it turned out to be locked. It was at this point that Aoi remembered how she got into this situation- chasing after Toko while the other girl chased after Byakuya- or at least his shadow.

"Toko! Are you in here?" Aoi called out. When there was no response, Aoi looked over the other cots in the room. Aoi found Toko sleeping on one of them, also dressed in only a white gown.

"I'm so glad to see you're safe, Toko!" Aoi exclaimed, running towards the other girl. "Come on, wake up already!"

Aoi shook Toko, hoping to wake her up, and the girl did start to rouse herself. Suddenly, Toko shot up, which caused Aoi to leap back in surprise. And then-

"Ah ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Long time no see, Milk Jugs!" Genocider Jill said, cackling her signature laugh.

"Oh no, not you!" Aoi shouted. The last person that she wanted to see right now was the serial killer that shared Toko's body.

"Well excuse you! It's not like I wanted to wake up to your face," Genocider Jill said. "I think I recognize this dump, but how did you and Miss Morose end up in here?"

Right, Toko and Genocider didn't share memories. Aoi took the time to explain their mission to the hospital, the fight with the Monokumas, and finally Toko's chase after "Byakuya" getting both her and Aoi assaulted by mysterious person.

"So let me get this straight. It's now just the two of us alone together in this hospital. While we're both only wearing these flimsy gowns and the only exit is locked. Do I have that right?" When Aoi nodded in confirmation, Genocider Jill started laughing again.

"What's so funny?" Aoi asked, feeling alarmed. She could never predict what the serial killer was thinking.

"I was just thinking about how this arbitrary situation would offend Miss Morose's pride as a writer," Genocider Jill said. "Not that I understand why. It's not like her stuff is that good."

Aoi immediately gave up trying to understand Genocider. If there was one area where Aoi definitely emphasized with Toko, it was having to deal with this crazed loon. Even so, perhaps Aoi could convince Genocider to be helpful.

"The only exit I can see to this place is locked. But you are probably strong enough to break it down," Aoi said, putting on her best smile. "So that we can at least escape this room. Could you please-?"

"Nah, I don't feel like it," Genocider Jill immediately answered.

"What, why not?!" Aoi exclaimed. "Didn't you hear that Toko potentially spotted Byakuya?"

"Oh sure, I'd love to rush right on over to Master's side," Genocider Jill sighed, sighing in a dreamy fashion. "But I'll do it when I want to, not when you say so! Especially after that rude greeting you gave me!"

"Fine, I apologize for what I said," Aoi snapped. "So could you please help?"

"You think a half-assed apology like that is gonna cut it!" Genocider Jill shouted. The serial killer patted her body for her scissors, but didn't find any. "Looks like you're not going to get cut up today, Milk Jugs. But the moment I get mys scissors-"

Genocider Jill suddenly sneezed, banishing her and replacing her with Toko. "Wh-where am I? Why is it so d-dusty in here?" Toko asked.

"I've never been happier to see you in my life, Toko!" Aoi exclaimed, sighing in relief. Once again, Aoi explained to the sulky girl about their current situation.

"Do you- do you know where Master is?" Toko asked, desperately wanting to see him.

"No, I don't. But if we work together, I'm sure we can get out of here to go look for him!" Aoi said, in her best encouraging attitude.

"Wh-what am I supposed to do? I don't have my taser, so I can't control Genocider Jill," Toko said, sinking into her usual pessimism. "I'm practically naked wearing this. M-my ugliness is exposed to the world."

"You're not ugly at all," Aoi immediately said, hoping to snap Toko out of her funk. "I think you have your own charm as a girl, Toko!"

Aoi should have known better than to say that. "Did you peek behind my gown while I w-was sleeping?" Toko asked, pointing her finger at Aoi accusingly. "S-strip me down to my u-underwear?"

"No, I would never do something like that!" Aoi exclaimed, feeling her face heat up. "I was just trying to compliment you, as a friend!"

"I d-don't need your compliments," Toko said, still glaring. "I wo-won't allow anyone to touch me but M-master! So keep your hands off me!"

"I told you, I wasn't-!" Aoi shouted. Before she could say anymore, however, a chime rang through the room, catching both girls' attention. It turned out to be coming from a speaker on a wall that Aoi didn't notice before.

"So my patients are finally awake," The voice said, clearing modified to sound robotic. "I must ask that you please not be so loud. Otherwise, I might be forced to sedate you again."

"So you're the one that trapped us in here!" Aoi shouted, turning all her anger at the speaker. "What do you want with us? Why are you keeping us here?"

"Now, now. Patients shouldn't try to leave before their treatment is complete," The voice said. "So for now, you are being contained in this room. Although, I guess I can't stop you from leaving it."

"Well, that's exactly what we're going to do!" Aoi yelled. "Isn't that right, Toko?"

Toko didn't answer at first, staring at the speaker with a strange expression. Finally Toko whispered, "Do you know where Master is?"

"So that's all you can think about. Such a one-track mind," The voice said. "If you behave like a good little patient, I could tell you in time."

"Toko, don't listen to them!" Aoi pleaded. "Do you really want to stay stuck in here?"

Toko's expression was clearly conflicted, the prospect of learning about Byakuya's location clearly pulling her to listen to their captor. So in a desperate attempt to get through to her, Aoi said, "I'll personally get us out of this hospital! And once we get out, you can look for Byakuya all you want, Toko!"

"D-do you really mean that, Aoi?" Toko asked. Aoi felt happy upon hearing Toko say her name. She had to do something to convince Toko to trust in her.

So Aoi walked up to the locked door. The swimmer had been so busy trying to get help that it didn't occur to her to try to escape herself. Taking a deep breath, Aoi kicked the door as hard as she door burst open with a loud crashing noise.

"Y-you actually kicked the door down," Toko said, her cheeks turning red. "Wh-why didn't you do that earlier?"

"I guess I just didn't think of it," Aoi said sheepishly. "But what's important is that we're out of this room!"

"F-fine, I guess I'll work with your so we c-can get out of this place," Toko said. "But once w-we get out of here, I'm going straight to Master!"

Aoi was looking for Byakuya as well, so that worked out for her purposes. "Then that means we need to break out of here as soon as possible!"

The two girls rushed out of the room without pause, entering the hospital at large.

"Oh dear. It seems like these patients are much livier than I thought," The voice from the speaker said without a trace of concern, even though it was speaking to an empty room. "But no matter what you do, only one of you will be able to leave here alive. Such a shame."

* * *

 **A/N: I have decided to make no real attempt to hide the character** **responsible for this situation- from the readers. Worry not, because I'll write other mysteries to make up for that. This story has only gotten started, so there will be many more twists.** **Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	5. Working on our teamwork

**A/N: At it's core, this is a romance story. Before romance can develop, however, first a baseline must be established for how Aoi and Toko are with each other. So that's what this chapter will be about. Well that, and clarifying the nature of their current situation. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Working on our teamwork**

"This is an announcement from your director: People are two-faced by nature. Yes, that includes you. After all, how many times have you told a lie to your friends, or your family? And don't give me excuses like 'it was just a white lie'. If someone tried that on you, you'd be furious. But you'd have no problem lying to them the very next day."

"This is why people just can't be honest with each other, you know."

* * *

As soon as Toko and Aoi burst into the main lobby of the hospital, they frantically looked around. Immediately, their eyes fell on the large front doors- and saw that they wouldn't be able to exit the hospital easily.

At some point while the two girls slept, the double doors had been chained shut by a large, heart-shaped lock. There would be no getting out from there. The windows were likewise barred, but that wasn't as much of a surprise.

"Could you k-kick down the f-front doors, Aoi? Or at l-least one of the w-windows?" Toko asked the swimmer.

"I don't think I can kick out that thick lock. And breaking the windows won't do anything about the iron bars," Aoi said, a frustrated look on her face.

"Tch! W-weren't you a-acting all reliable just f-five minutes ago?" Toko asked, now glaring at Aoi.

"This is just a minor setback! Where there's a lock, there has to be a key, right," Aoi said quickly "We just need to find the key to escape!" Which just left a matter of where the key was.

"If I h-had to guess, the person that's k-keeping us here has the key," Toko said, biting her lip from nervousness.

"That makes our job easy, then! We just need to find that person and get the key from them!" Aoi exclaimed, pumping her fists.

"Puhuhu! Puhuhuhuhu! I wouldn't count on that hope if I were you!"

Both Toko and Aoi immediately recognized that high-pitched voice, that laugh, and their eyes widened. No, it couldn't be- !

A Monokuma popped up out of the ground. Not just any Monokuma, however- this one was dressed in a white coat, and had a nurse's cap perched on his head. "Long time no see, girls. You didn't forget about your headmaster, did you?"

"You can't be that Monokuma! We aren't in Hope's Peak," Aoi shouted, glaring at the mechanical bear. "And you're dressed as a nurse right now."

"Details, details," Monokuma said, waving his paw dismissively. "If you insist on being so nitpicky, I'm here on the behalf of this hospital's director."

"In o-other words, y-you're being controlled by our kidnapper!" Toko yelled. "Take us to them right now!"

"How rude! You don't even have an appointment!" Monokuma yelled back. "The director will get to you at their discretion, and not because you feel like meeting them."

"We talked to this director earlier, actually," Aoi said. "And they called us patients. Could you at least tell us what the heck that's about?"

"That's what you decide to ask? What a waste," Monokuma said, sounding dejected. "But you aren't all that bright, are you?"

Aoi felt her face heat up from embarrassment, and glared at Toko when she heard the other girl chuckle at that remark. "Just answer the question, before I decide to kick you into scrap!"

"So violent, too! You throw away your feminine charm far too easily." That comment by Monokuma did hit home for Aoi. That she wasn't feminine enough was one of her biggest insecurities.

Toko looked at the hurt expression on Aoi's face, and the writer found herself getting angry. The writer sniped at Aoi all the time, but a part of her didn't want to hear it from Monkuma. Toko opened her mouth to let out a scathing remark when-

"To answer your question, you girls are patients because the director has operated on you. You're still recovering from the procedure, so you probably shouldn't be moving around so much," Monokuma said with disturbing calmness.

This caused Aoi to remember the pain in her gut that she felt when she woke up, and she felt dread go through her entire body. Toko's face went as pale as a sheet. "Wh-what did this director d-do to me?!"

"Yeah, what did they do to us? And why?!" Aoi asked aggressively.

"There aren't any bombs in your bodies, if that's what you're asking. You won't find any cliches as tired as that here," Monokuma said. "In fact, the director did something entirely beneficial to you! Well, I suppose that depends on your point of view."

It seemed like this Monokuma, like the one Aoi was familiar with, did not intend to give straight answers. "Forget the stupid bear, Toko. Let's just go looking for an exit."

"Before I forget, the director was kind enough to decide to return something to you," Monokuma said, digging into his white coat. He took out Toko's taser and Aoi's walkie talkie.

"Y-you're just giving them to us? Wh-what's the catch?" Toko asked suspiciously.

"Rest assured, your precious items haven't been tampered with in anyway," Monokuma said, his red eye glowing with malevolence. "There is a catch. If you want to have these back, you have to confess your sins. For example, what are you doing with this walkie talkie?"

The last question had been aimed at Aoi, who flinched as soon as it was asked. "I have it to keep in contact with my friends. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Puhuhuhu. Because you're afraid, aren't you? That your precious walkie talkie will get smashed if you talked about why you really have it!"

Now Toko was glaring at Aoi again, this time much angerier "I w-was wondering why the three of you were here in Towa city. D-don't tell me you just happened to visit!"

At this point, Aoi decided she was done playing by this Monokuma's rules. Aoi would explain herself, and deal with the consequences. "The Future Foundation sent me, Naegi, and Kirigiri here to find Togami. I have the walkie talkie so we can stay in touch with each other, that's all!"

Just as Aoi expected, Toko's expression twisted into pure fury. "What does the Future Foundation want with Master?! Why don't they just mind their own business?! I hope their entire building burns down!"

Thankfully, Aoi was used to Toko's rants, so she was able to keep herself from blowing up at Toko. Instead Aoi exclaimed, "The Future Foundation wants to keep Togami safe! And considering that you might have seen him near this hospital, he might need help!"

Just as Aoi hoped, this got Toko to stop and consider the situation. So Aoi took this chance to say, "And besides, I'm not here because of Togami! I'm here because of you, Toko."

"Y-You're here because of me? Wh-what do you mean by that?" Toko asked, her cheeks going light pink.

"I heard you were here in Towa city. So I asked to come along with Naegi and Kirigiri," Aoi explained. "I wanted to see how you were doing, because you're my friend, Toko!"

This was true- Aoi personally was not fond of Byakuya. As a member of the Future Foundation, she did have an obligation to look for him- but what Aoi really wanted was to get to know Toko better.

Even as Toko scowled, there was no hiding her blush. "You're certainly the most annoying friend I have, Aoi."

"Grrr… fine, you can have your stupid walkie talkie!" Monokuma shouted, throwing it at the swimmer. Aoi managed to catch the walkie talkie, which she considered a triumph.

"But I've still got this," Monokuma continued, holding up Toko's taser. "And I'm sure you're desperate to get it back. Why would you be, though? Doesn't your other side only kill men? So Miss Musclehead shouldn't be in any danger."

Aoi looked at Toko. This was actually a fair point. It was true that Aoi would prefer Toko to have control over Genocider Syo. But even with Syo threatening Aoi, her life shouldn't be in danger.

"Sh-shut up!" Toko shouted. "What the hell do you know about me? I w-want my taser b-back because I don't like her doing what she pleases."

"I know you better than you think," Monokuma said, looking straight at Toko. Aoi didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this wasn't Monokuma anymore- it was the director speaking through him. "It looks like you don't want to be honest yet. What a shame. That could cost you very dearly…"

With that ominous warning hanging in the air, Monokuma vanished into the ground. Toko stared at the spot where Monkuma was, her body trembling.

"If you need someone to talk to, Toko, I'm here," Aoi said, doing her best to sound reassuring. Aoi approached the writer, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. But Toko shrugged Aoi off.

"S-so what are you g-going to do with your walkie talkie?" Toko asked, clearly not wanting to talk about herself.

"I'm glad to have it back, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use it," Aoi said, holding the walkie talkie away from herself. "I don't trust this director to not do anything to it."

"If y-you feel like that, then why'd you b-bother getting it back in the first place?"

"Because I refuse to lose to that stupid bear!" Aoi yelled. "And I don't want to lose to our captor! So even if this explodes, I will find a way to make them regret giving this to me!"

With that, Aoi turned on the walkie talkie. There was a crackle of static, then Aoi could hear a familiar voice…

* * *

Makoto jumped as the walkie talkie in his hand started buzzing. Makoto immediately said, "Hina, is that you? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay, Naegi! Well, sort of. It's hard to explain." Aoi said.

Without a word, Kyoko snatched the walkie talkie from Makoto and spoke into it, "Explain."

"Toko and I have been taken captive. We're trapped inside the hospital that the Monokumas were guarding," Aoi explained.

"Wait, you're both prisoners? Who is holding you captive?" Komaru asked, pressing close to the walkie talkie, and into Kyoko's personal space as a result.

Kyoko looked annoyed at this, but said into the walkie talkie, "Then say as little as possible. In fact, this very conversation could be detrimental to us."

"Well, the Monokuma that returned this walkie talkie to me said that it wasn't tampered with in anyway," Aoi said. "So maybe it doesn't have a listening device? I'm just not sure if I trust that."

"So it comes down to if the Monkuma you talked is true to their word like the Monokuma that controlled the killing game we were trapped in," Kyoko said, closing her eyes. "Even so, do not say anything that could endanger us."

"Our captor calls themselves the director of the hospital. And-" For a moment, the walkie talkie was silent. Then Aoi said in a shaky voice, "They claim to have operated on us."

"Your captor did something to you and Toko? Please let me talk to her," Komaru said, desperately reaching for the walkie talkie.

"Komaru? Is that you?" Now Toko's voice was coming out of the walkie talkie.

"Yes, it's me. Is what Asahina said true?" Komaru asked, having taken the walkie talkie from Kyoko.

"I don't know. Just thinking it's true makes me feel slimy," Toko said, disgust in her voice. "I did wake up with my gut aching. But my body doesn't have a mark on it."

"It's the same for me too!" Aoi said, her voice more distant. "I don't know if that means anything."

While all this was going on, Kyoko was in deep thought. It had been a day since they lost contact with the two girls. So this account was odd, to say the least. Finally, she opened her eyes and said, "It looks like we have no choice but to assume what the director told you could be true. So be careful. We will do our best to extract you from the hospital from our end."

"Okay, I trust you, Kirigiri!" Aoi exclaimed. "But I'll try to escape with Toko from this hospital safe and sound from our end! So hopefully, we'll be able to meet each other soon."

"I wish I could help you, Toko. It's my fault you were captured in the first place," Komaru said, a dejected expression on her face.

"C'mon, Komaru! We've defeated giant mechs together! Just pack more ammo for your megaphone before you leave," Toko said. "And once we meet up, we'll make this "director" pay!"

"I cannot guarantee that we will be able to aid you soon," Kirigiri said into the walkie talkie. "So if possible, put aside your differences. Until you leave the hospital, you can only rely on each other."

"Got it, Kyoko!" Aoi exclaimed. Toko, however, was notably silent. Even over the walkie talkie Komaru knew that Toko was sulking.

"Like you just said, we've fought giant mechs together. So working with Aoi to get out of the hospital shouldn't be too bad," Komaru said. "Besides, she is your friend."

"I guess Aoi's my friend," Toko said, her tone still gloomy.

"It would be inadvisable to continue this conversation. We will end it here," Kyoko said. "Do not try to contact us again, in case your captor is listening. I will get in contact with you once we can deem that it is safe."

With that, Kyoko turned off her walkie talkie. Then she smashed it against the floor, breaking the walkie talkie into pieces.

"What did you do that for?!" Makoto exclaimed, a shocked expression on his face.

"It is very likely we have already been compromised," Kyoko said, as she began to pack her stuff. "It would be best for us to leave here. Then we must find a safer way to contact Asahina and Fukawa."

"Okay, but we are we going?" Makoto asked.

Instead of answering the question directly, Kyoko turned towards Komaru. "I believe you mentioned an adult resistance in Towa City, Naegi?"

* * *

 **A/N: The segment at the beginning of this chapter is this story's version of "Monokuma Theater". Try to glean what you can from it, if you want. The groundwork has been set and mysteries are there to solve. This story is going to pick up from here on out! Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	6. Investigate the blindingly obvious

**A/N: I'm going to be real with all of you: I'm working on three large stories at once, this one included. So time management is tough. I am still giving it my all for every chapter of this, though! So enjoy this chapter now that it's out. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Investigate the blindingly obvious**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"My parents once told me I could be be anything I wanted to be. So I decided to become a dog. And everyone treated me so kindly. They gave me food and patted my head, and I nuzzled them all lovingly. But when I got home, my parents told me that I wasn't a dog, and I shouldn't act like one."

"So even now I wonder why my parents told me such a cruel lie as 'I can be anything I want to be'."

* * *

"Toko you've been in this hospital before, right?" Aoi asked.

"Y-yes, I have. Wh-why do you ask?" Toko said, biting her thumb.

"Well, I was thinking you could give me a rundown of what this hospital's like. Maybe if we can talk it out, we can find another exit!" Aoi exclaimed.

"Well, f-from what I remember, this hospital has th-three floors," Toko said, nervously tugging on her pigtails. "And th-the third floor has an exit to the r-rooftop."

"Then if we can't get out from the front, we can exit from-"

Before Aoi could finish talking Toko shook her head. "I don't think it's that simple, Aoi. If the p-person keeping us captive has really t-taken over this entire hospital, then I i-imagine they've locked off the exit to the rooftop too."

"Oh, you've got a point," Aoi said, drooping. "I still think we should explore around here! Anything we find could be helpful to us."

"I d-don't think our captor left a w-weapon laying around for us either." Still, Toko had a feeling that Aoi would drag her along regardless. So the two girls began exploring the floor of the hospital they were on.

Aoi lead Toko in the direction of the stairs to the next floor- and found that they were blocked off a grate.

"Okay, now I'm really starting to get angry!" Aoi shouted, glaring at the grate. "The more of these stupid roadblocks I see, the more I want to punch our captor right in their face!"

A small smile spread on Toko's face. "F-first we need to get to them. If I h-had to guess, they're on another floor."

"Oh, I get it! That's why they blocked us off!" Aoi said, sounding proud of herself.

"I th-think I remember where the switch was for this grate…" This time Toko took the lead, guiding the swimmer deeping into the hospital. Unfortunately, they hadn't taken more than a few steps before they saw something unexpected:

A group of Monokumas patrolling around the lobby.

"Quick, behind here!" Toko whispered urgently, gesturing for Aoi to hide behind a sofa.

Once the two girls were hidden from the Monokumas' view, Aoi said, "It looks like our captor decided to put more guards. What do you want to do, Toko?"

Normally, this was when Toko would ask Komaru to arm her megaphone, or when Toko would use her taser to summon Genocider Syo. But Komaru wasn't here and Toko didn't have her taser.

"Th-there doesn't seem to be much we can do r-right now," Toko said, glaring at the bear robots. "I've seen these Monokumas try to sw-swallow Komaru whole. Fighting too m-many of them at once is probably a b-bad idea."

"They can do that?!" Aoi exclaimed, alarmed. "Well, if you really think we should back off, then we will for now. But what do we do next?"

"I th-think we should find some way of being able to control Genocider Syo without m-my taser," Toko suggested nervously.

"I dunno. That could be risky if whatever we try doesn't work…" Aoi said.

"So you don't t-trust me? Is th-that it?!" Toko asked, pointing accusingly at Aoi.

"No no no! That's not it at all!" Aoi said quickly. "But Genocider Syo doesn't really listen to me, so I'm worried I won't be able to bring you back."

"S-still, I think it's better to at l-least try than just sit around here doing n-nothing," Toko said.

"Okay, if you say so…" While Aoi still had her misgivings, she agreed that doing nothing was not an option. So she followed Toko back to the room full of cots.

Once they entered to room, Toko approached one of the cots and removed a pillow. Then she started attacking the pillow, tearing into it with her fingernails.

"If you had that much frustration, I don't think you needed to take it out on the pillow!" Aoi exclaimed, watching Toko attack the pillow.

"If y-you want, I could take my f-frustrations out on you instead, Aoi," Toko said, looking over at the swimmer with a perverted smile.

"On second thought, we have pillows to spare," Aoi said, blushing and turning away from Toko.

It didn't take long for the pillow to split open- which scattered feathers around the room everywhere. Toko picked up one of the feathers, and said, "I'm g-going to try to summon her now. Are you ready, Aoi?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Aoi said, even as she wrung her hands.

Toko tickled her nose with the feather, and immediately sneezed. In the next second-

"Did you miss me so much that you called me back so soon? Because you're going to make me blush if you keep obsessing over me like this," Genocider Syo said, leering at Aoi.

"For your information, I didn't summon you!" Aoi snapped. "Toko did. We really need you right now."

Gencodier Syo looked around the room, seeing the feathers. "Well it must be serious if Miss Morose went this far. So what's the dealio here, Milk Jugs?"

Deciding to ignore the nickname, Aoi explained the situation with the patrolling Monokumas.

"Yup, that sure takes me back," Syo said, crossing her arms. "As for your request, I'll have to say- denied!"

What? Why?!" Aoi exclaimed.

"You of all people should know I only work with my special scissors," Syo said, waving her empty hands in emphasis. "And I don't have them on me! And I'd rather not be shoved down a Monokuma's throat, thank you very much."

Of course Aoi knew what Syo was talking about- the incident during their time trapped at Hope's Peak, when Syo attacked Aoi. Unable to help herself, Aoi looked at Syo's legs- there were no scissors strapped there, but Aoi could see the scars on the other girl's legs.

"Hey! Eyes up here!" Syo shouted.

Aoi looked up, but the image of the scarred legs had already burned itself into her mind. Aoi remembered reading up on Genocider Syo after escaping Hope's Peak.

 _This is what Toko's had to live with. Waking up with a new scar on her legs, near a corpse she never remembers killing._

Aoi could feel shame welling up inside her. _I've been trying to call myself Toko's friend, and I didn't even know that much! No wonder Toko looks down on me…_

"Ugh, could you not make that face? As irritating as your dumb smile is, it's much better than this expression," Syo said.

"Wait, are you… are you trying to reassure me?" Aoi asked disbelievingly.

Instead of answering that question, Syo suddenly said, "As for your murder bear problem, I can't help you right now. But if you manage your hands on one of my special scissors, I'll consider helping you."

"But I don't know where your scissors are, Syo! If anything your scissors probably past where the Monokumas are guarding. And that leaves me and Toko back to where we started!" Aoi yelled, frustrated.

"Well that's your problem, isn't it? Ah ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Syo laughed.

"Fine! I'll find a way to beat the Monokumas with or without you!" Aoi snapped. "I don't know about you, but I definitely want to keep Toko safe!"

Unexpectedly, this caused Genocider Syo to smile. "Ohhh, so you want to be Miss Morose's shining knight, huh? Your boobs would definitely make a great shield. In that case, I guess I could hang in the background for a bit."

Before Aoi could say or do anything else, Syo snatched a feather from the ground, and tickled her nose with it. In the next second-

"Achoo! S-so how was the conversation with h-her?" Toko asked.

"Just as I thought, Syo didn't feel like cooperating," Aoi said, rubbing her forehead. "I think it's best if we go to sleep, and plan out our next move tomorrow."

Toko kept starting at Aoi. Then Toko said, "You're b-blushing, Aoi. Just what did s-she say to you?"

Toko pointing this out made Aoi blush worse, and she could only stammer out, "Just the usual dirty stuff! I did my best to ignore it, but some of it got to me."

This caused Toko to start blushing as well. "It m-must because your th-thoughts are dirty too!" With that, Toko went over to one of the cots, and laid on it before pulling the blanket over herself.

Aoi rested on a cot close to Toko's, getting ready to go to sleep as well. As Aoi closed her eyes, however, her mind raced with thoughts. Thoughts of Syo's innuendos, thoughts of Toko's blushing face. Most of all, thoughts about what Kyoko had said about Toko's (and Syo's) "true feelings".

"Of course I care about Toko. It's only natural that I want her to be safe," Aoi muttered to herself. "There nothing dirty about how I feel."

What the true nature of her own feelings were, however, was another question entirely.

* * *

 **A/N: So essentially, Toko and Aoi are going to climb to the third story of this hospital to see what they find. How will they get past the Monokumas? What does the director have planned for them? I plan to show you in the coming chapters. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	7. Taking the smallest steps

**A/N: Back with a new chapter of this story! Today's chapter introduces a familiar face from UDG. Aside from that, our girls go looking for answers, but only find further questions. So without further ado, it's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Taking the smallest steps**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"There are so many incredible people in the world! Everywhere I look, there are people that can bring out the smile in others, there are people that can create anything, there are people that would give their life without a second thought."

"I want to cut them up, and put their incredibleness inside of me."

* * *

"Is it going to be much further until the Adult Resistance base?" Kyoko asked, doing her best to hold her nose as they walked through the sewers.

"Not that much longer. Sorry about the smell," Komaru said sheepishly. "The Resistance does want to move out, but reconstruction in Towa City has barely started."

"A lot of people were displaced, weren't they? I can't imagine it would be easy for them to get their old lives back," Makoto said, his tone empathetic.

"Well there's more to it than that, but I'll let the leader of the resistance explain it. Well, if he's even willing to talk," Komaru said worriedly.

Before anyone could ask what Komaru meant, they reached a tall ladder. Makoto climbed it first, and Komaru and Kyoko followed. Once they reached the top, there was a pair of steel double doors waiting for them.

Komaru approached the doors before knocking on them. The door opened to reveal an an older woman with pink hair, smoking a cigarette.

"It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you, Koko," The pink-haired woman said, smiling.

"Hey there, Miss Hagakure. Have you seen Haiji?" Komaru asked.

"Oh, is this Hiro's sister?" Makoto asked.

"Uh, no. This is his mom, Hiroko," Komaru said. "She helped me and Toko a lot when we were struggling against the Warriors of Hope."

"Wait, seriously?!" Makoto exclaimed in shock.

"I'm guessing the two of you are Koko's friends," Hiroko said. Hiroko sighed deeply. "And you also know my idiot son. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, do you?"

"We do not. But this is getting off topic," Kyoko said. "Who is this 'Haiji' that Komaru mentioned?"

"That would be Haiji Towa, the former leader of the Resistance," Hiroko said. "But now he's more like a lump of meat that just sits around and doesn't do much of anything. I'm the new leader of the Resistance."

"That's great, Miss Hagakure! Then maybe you can help us," Komaru said excitedly.

"Sure thing. Let's bring this inside," Hiroko said, gesturing for everyone to follow her inside the base.

Aoi sat up in the hospital cot, stretching her arms. While Aoi had slept well, for some reason her neck ached.

"Ugh, are we still here in this stupid hospital?" Toko asked from her own cot. "My back is killing me…"

"Good morning to you too, Toko," Aoi deadpanned. "Although my neck does hurt for some reason."

Aoi looked on her cot, and immediately discovered why. "My pillow got replaced! Instead of a feather pillow, it's now some kind of stiff foam."

Toko checked her pillow to see that this was the case- in fact, all the feathers that had been spilled yesterday had been cleaned up, and all the feather pillows had been replaced by foam pillows.

Suddenly the speaker in the room crackled to life. "I did not appreciate my patients making a mess in my hospital," The Director said. "So after sedating you both, I cleaned up your rooms and made sure you couldn't make such a mess again."

"You seriously sedated us?" Aoi asked, horrified.

"Only because you misbehaved, my patients," The Director said. "So don't do it again. I won't kill my patients, but I will definitely discipline them if I have to…"

With those ominous words, the speaker fell silent.

"I guess this means that our captor wanted to stop me from being able to summon 'her'," Toko said, biting her thumb.

"It's not like Syo wanted to be much help anyways," Aoi said, sighing. "Still, as disturbing as it is that our captor can sedate us, we can't let that stop us!"

"Uh, I know you don't have much brains, but our captor can just sedate our bodies into mush," Toko pointed out.

Ignoring that comment, Aoi said, "Well, we don't know how our captor is doing this to us, right? So we can try and catch them in the act! The sooner we can catch them, the sooner we can question them!"

Did you- did you just have a good idea?!" Toko gasped out.

"Please don't sound so surprised when you say that," Aoi said, her shoulders slumping.

"Still, what are we going to do today?" Toko asked. The writer was slowly coming to terms with having to rely on Aoi, and that thought alarmed her.

"Find a way past the Monokumas guarding the other half of this hospital," Aoi said, getting herself pumped up. "If we're ever going to get to the floor where our captor is, we need to explore this floor first!"

"I guess that would be a good place to start…" Before Toko could say anymore, her stomach growled.

Almost immediately after, the Monokuma in the white lab coat and nurse hat came bursting in holding large trays of food. "Did someone order room service?"

"No one asked for you, you stupid bear!" Aoi shouted.

"Hey! I come here out of the goodness of my heart and this is how you treat me?" The Monokuma yelled.

"Whatever. Just take your food and toss it with the rest of the Monokumas," Toko said, shooing the lab coat Monokuma away.

"First of all, I am under strict orders to leave this food here. You can do what you want with it after," Monokuma said. "Second, I am not like the other Monokumas. They're just mindless machines, while I'm the mouthpiece of the Director."

"Wait, so then does that mean you have an A.I. like Shirokuma or Kurokuma?" Toko asked.

"Oh, those two are a special case. My brain is more rudimentary, but still enough to give me my charming personality," Monokuma said. "So you can call me Director Monokuma! Maybe you'll meet the creator of my A.I., if you're lucky."

With that, Director Monokuma left the room, sinking into the floor in that mysterious way all Monokumas did.

For a moment, the two girls started at the plates of food on the floor- seemingly normal scrambled eggs with toast, and a cup of orange juice.

Aoi decided she needed to take the first step, and picked up one of the plates. "Well, if we let Monokuma feed us during the Killing Game, then I guess this isn't very different."

Toko almost made another snipe at Aoi's intelligence, but her stomach growled again. So as much as she hated it, Toko picked up the other plate of food and started eating.

* * *

The breakfast passed in silence, and soon enough Aoi and Toko were out in the hospital lobby again. Like last time, Aoi and Toko could see a group of Monkumas guarding the area past the halfway point- it looked like about five of them.

"We're definitely outnumbered here. If we get into a fight with them, we aren't going to win," Toko said bluntly.

"I wish there was some way of getting the Monokumas by themselves," Aoi said, studying the formation they were in: Today, they were standing in a line, with three of the Monokumas facing towards the girls.

On the far left and right sides, the two remaining Monukumas faced forward- but after three minutes, they turned around to face away. As Aoi kept watching them, the two Monokumas turning around again.

"What do you think this is about, Toko?" Aoi asked, turning towards her friend. "You have more experience with this than I do."

"If this is anything like the last time, our captor is playing games with us," Toko said, glaring at the robots. "They're taunting us to get past the Monokumas without getting caught."

Aoi started heading towards the Monokumas. "We certainly aren't going to play by-" Then she felt Toko suddenly grab on her arm.

"Don't be reckless, Aoi!" Toko hissed, pulling the swimmer back. "Don't you remember? In situations like these, if you break a rule, the mastermind kills you!"

Those words caused an image to flash into Aoi's mind- of "Junko Enoshima" being skewered to death with dozens of spears for attacking Monokuma. "So then what should we do?" Aoi asked, now trembling.

Toko looked around, trying to see of any way around the line of Monokumas, before spotting a door. "See that door? If I remember correctly, that leads into a hall that goes past the Monokumas. We just need to get there without getting caught."

"Okay, I'll try to be quiet, then." Aoi said in her usual boisterous voice.

Toko thought to herself that Aoi was probably incapable of being quiet, but that was what she had to work with. Gesturing Aoi to follow her, Toko sneaked behind a couch in the middle of the hospital lobby.

Once Toko heard that Aoi had joined her, she took a quick peek above the couch. The three Monokumas in the center were still starting straight forward, while the two Monokumas on the far ends were currently facing the other way.

"If we're going to go, it has to be now," Aoi whispered to Toko.

"B-but what if the Monokumas are going to turn around s-soon?" Toko asked nervously.

"That's why we need to go now!" Before Toko could protest again, Aoi grabbed her by the arm and headed to the door. Aoi glanced to make sure the Monokuma near the door was facing away, then opened it and slipped inside with Toko.

"W-why did you do that?" Toko asked, glaring at Aoi.

"Listen, there's a time to be cautious, but there's also a time for action!" Aoi exclaimed. "Were we really going to just wait behind that couch forever?"

Toko couldn't deny that Aoi got results. Still… "Grrr, don't expect to always be so lucky! If you keep charging forward like that, you'll crash into something you won't be able to survive from."

Aoi could swear that Toko actually sounded worried. So instead of getting angry, Aoi said, "Toko, I promised to get you out of this hospital. Not only that, but you're my friend! Of course I want to do my best for you, but I don't want you to worry either."

"Then don't do something stupid again," Toko muttered, even as her cheeks turned pink.

Aoi looked around the room- it was another room full of cots, which this being a hospital made sense. Not too far away was another door- it would be safe to assume that outside was the other side of the Monokuma blockade.

"Toko, I have a question. Getting out the other door will get us past the Monokumas. But how will we know when to get out so that they don't spot us?" Aoi asked.

Toko opened her mouth to answer, only to realize she didn't have one immediately available. "Uh, as l-long as we use the door to block the Monokumas' view, we should be able to get further into the hospital."

Despite the fact that Toko was not at all confident in what she was saying, Aoi pumped her fists and said, "Then let's keep moving! We need to find the switch to open the grate to the next floor!"

After catching their breath, the two girls went to the other end of the room, then opened the door. The door opened outwards, so Aoi looked out into the hospital at large.

"What's it look like, Aoi?" Toko asked nervously.

"Most of the Monokumas are now facing away, and I can't see the last one. I think we're safe!" Aoi exclaimed. Aoi looked further into the hospital. "I don't see the switch for the grate. But I think I see that one of the rooms further ahead is labeled as an office…"

Then the door to the office opened, and Aoi had to clap her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. A few more Monokumas exited the office, before sinking into the floor and disappearing.

"Wh-what happened? What did you see?" Toko asked, tugging at Aoi's gown.

"I think I saw where all the Monokumas are coming from," Aoi said as she closed the door. "They just came out of the office! Do you think that there's someone inside? Do you think that it could be our captor?"

"I doubt it would be that easy. Still, it could be an accomplice," Toko said. "If nothing else, we could shut down whatever is making the Monokumas."

Should we keep going, then, or should we stop for the day?" Aoi asked. "We've definitely made a lot of progress."

"You call moving a single room making progress?" Still, Toko felt as if it would be best to dedicate an entire day to reaching the office. Toko was very much a pessimist, but she still wanted to reach the second floor by the end of tomorrow. "Still, we should probably spend the rest of today planning what we want to do tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me!" Aoi said excitedly.

* * *

"So Fufu got captured? And one of your other friends got captured with her?" Hiroko asked once Komaru and her group finished their explanation.

"That is correct. We know little about their captor, so we are here in search of information," Kyoko said with her usual impassive attitude.

"Could you look into what the Warriors of Hope are doing?" Komaru asked. "They were laying low before, but we need to make sure they had nothing to do with this."

"Don't worry, Koko. I'll look into what those kids are doing," Hiroko said, patting Komaru on the shoulder. "As for you, Kyokyo, I'll use the resources here to investigate everything that could have lead to your friends being captured."

"Am I… am I supposed to be 'Kyokyo'?" Kyoko asked, a confused look on her face.

"We don't have much here, but we have a place to stay," Hiroko continued. "So why don't you all stay here for the night?"

"I guess there's no harm. At least we wouldn't have to deal with the sewers again…" Makoto said with his usual deadpan.

As the group were lead to the living quarters, Komaru felt anxiety squeeze her heart. The longer that Toko was stuck in the hospital, the more that Komaru was starting to fear the worst. And after having met Aoi and immediately gotten along with her, Komaru didn't want to lose her too.

Komaru did not want to have to go through that pain again.

* * *

 **A/N: I stated before that I am making no real attempt to hide the identity of the main villain of this story from the readers. To make up for that, there are other opponents for Aoi and Toko to defeat. So why are they going to meet on the first floor? I welcome guesses from the readers. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	8. Beware hunks with sharp teeth

**A/N: In this chapter, Aoi and Toko will meet a new antagonist. I realize that the chapter title immediately gives away who it is. Think of the chapter title as a teaser of what is to come. So without further ado, it's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Beware hunks with sharp teeth**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"Oh! I didn't see you come in. Make yourself comfortable in here. Sorry that I don't have anything to give you. I doubt that my apologies will fill you up. I've always been terrible at entertaining guests, so I hope you aren't too angry at me."

"No, please don't go! Please don't leave me…"

* * *

"So… are we going inside the door that the Monokumas exited from?"

Aoi looked up from her breakfast, a surprised look on her face. The swimmer didn't expect Toko to talk while they were eating. Since Toko asked, Aoi answered, "Yes, that seems like the best thing to do! We need to explore everywhere we can if we're going to find the switch to the grate."

"And what are we going to do after we find the switch to the grate?" Toko asked.

"Go to the second floor, of course!" Aoi shot Toko a concerned glance. "Is there a reason you're asking these questions, Toko?"

Toko glared at the world at large, then said, "As long as we don't have my taser, we can't call on 'her' to fight the Monokumas. And the closer we get to our captor, the more heavily guarded I imagine things will get…"

"If that's what you're so worried about, then we need to find a way to deal with Monokumas that doesn't rely on Syo!" Aoi exclaimed. "I hate the idea that we have to run from them forever! So let's also investigate a possible weakness of the Monokumas."

For a few minutes, Toko remained silent, chewing on her thumb. Then Toko said, "Actually, the Monokumas do have a weakness. Whenever Komaru hit them in their red eye with her hacking gun, they'd go down in one hit."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?!" Aoi asked.

"Because I don't know if that only applies to Komaru's hacking gun, dummy!" Toko snapped. "If you tried to kick a Monokuma in their eye and it did nothing, then what?"

"That's a good point," Aoi admitted. "But I fought the Monokumas outside, didn't I? So if it's just one Monokuma, I think I can handle myself."

"I'm not going to stop you if you're going to be this stubborn about it, Aoi," Toko muttered. "But if you die, I'm going to kill you."

* * *

Once the two girls finished with breakfast, they headed to the door that lead deeper into the hospital. Peeking out, they saw that no Monokumas would be able to see them, at least not right away.

"If the Monokumas are coming from inside that room, will we even be able to get inside?" Toko asked.

"I don't think we have a choice. We just have to hope that whoever is inside isn't up this early." Aoi said.

Toko frowned at this, but she also didn't have a rebuttal. Walking out of their bedroom, Toko and Aoi headed towards the room in the back, keeping an eye out for Monokumas.

Toko could feel a pit form in the pit of her stomach as they encountered no difficulties on their way there. In her experience, something like this always a terrible despair was waiting for them.

When they reached the door, Aoi reached for the doorknob, carefully grasping it before pulling the door open. On the other side of the door…

Was an office, or at least what used to be an office. Most of the inside was covered in machinery, and someone was tinkering with the machinery. As the door opened, the person turned around, revealing themselves to be a man with bright pink hair.

The pink-haired man was wearing yellow clothes, which were unzipped to expose his chest. As he saw Toko and Aoi, he grinned, showing off his sharp, pointed teeth.

"Why hello there, ladies!" The man said. "If it isn't our esteemed guests. And looking quite fine, I might add."

"So are you an accomplice to our kidnapper?" Aoi asked, instinctively covering her chest with her arms.

"You could say that. All of us in this hospital are classmates," The man said, sticking his tongue out. "And yes, I do mean all of us. But I should introduce myself."

The man grabbed a wrench, twirling it in his fingers. "My name is Kazuichi Souda, and I'm the Ultimate Mechanic!"

"No way… you're a student from Hope's Peak?!" Aoi gasped.

"No, not just that. Aoi, do you remember the group that Future Foundation is investigating? I think he might be one of them." Toko said, glaring at Kazuichi.

"The group that Future Foundation's been investigating…" Aoi's eyes widened. "You're- You're a Remnant of Despair!"

"Don't give me that look. It ruins your pretty face," Kazuichi said. "I'm not going to lay a hand on you. After all, the Director has plans for you. Plans that make me so jealous, because of just how despairing they are."

"So that means our kidnapper is a Remnant of Despair too… and there could be more of you in here!" Toko shouted. "So tell me who the rest of your accomplices are!"

"Or what? What are gentle, fragile girls like you going to do? Especially when I have this!" Kazuichi took something out of a pocket on his clothes, which turned out to be Toko's taser.

Toko's legs trembled as the girl stared at her taser in Kazuichi's hand. Aoi found herself stepping in front Toko protectively. "Even if you have that taser, it's still two against one. So give up that taser, or I'm going to punch your face!"

"Now, now, I'd rather things not get violent," Kazuichi said, a nervous quiver in his voice. "Especially when you're the ones that are outnumbered."

Suddenly, three Monokumas popped up in front of Kazuichi, startling the two girls. Kazuichi grinned viciously. "I don't know what makes these Monokumas work like they do. But that doesn't stop me from being able to build them! So I have an endless army that I can build whenever I want!"

"This is bad. This bad. This is very, very, bad!" Toko blurted out in a panic.

Aoi desperately looked around the room for anything that could help them in this situation. Then her eyes landed on a desk near a Monokuma, on which sat some of Genocider Syo's scissors.

Aoi couldn't help but remember her earlier conversation with Toko about facing Monkumas. Facing multiple at once would be a bad idea… but facing one could be doable.

Without thinking about it, Aoi rushed the Monokuma near the desk, kicking it savagely in the red eye. Aoi's kick managed to leave a dent, and the Monokuma clutched it's claws to it's eye.

Then the Monokuma fell to the ground, unmoving. As soon as Aoi saw this, she rushed to the desk and snatched a couple pairs of scissors. This gave Kazuichi enough time to recover, and he shouted, "Stop her! Get those scissors back!"

The other Monkumas converged on Aoi, but the swimmer managed to avoid them. Toko opened her mouth to say something, but Aoi grabbed her by the arm and dragged out of the room.

Aoi could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the Monokumas pursued them. As soon as she reached the door to the cot room, Aoi pulled herself and Toko inside, shutting the door just in time. The Monokumas crashed into the other side of the door, but didn't try to break it down. Eventually, they left.

Aoi let go of Toko's arm, letting herself rest against a wall. "I can't believe that worked! Still, to think that we'd find Remnants of Despair in a place like this…"

Toko still didn't speak, her expression blank. Toko approached Aoi, then without warning slapped Aoi across the face.

"Hey, what was that for?!" Aoi snapped.

"For once, why didn't you just listen to me, Aoi?!" Toko shouted, raising her hand to slap Aoi again.

"I did try to listen to you! I remember what you said before about not taking on too much," Aoi explained, rubbing her aching cheek. "But I also needed to get my hands on those scissors."

"...So why did you decide to grab the scissors? Why didn't you try to get my taser back?" Toko asked, keeping her hand raised.

"I'm not too sure. I guess I felt it was better if we both had something to defend ourselves with? And Kazuichi could have just as easily used the taser on me," Aoi said defiantly, although most of this didn't occur to her until just now.

Toko sighed, finally lowering her hand. "You're always going on about us being friends, and that you trust me. Well, why haven't you shown that you trust me, Aoi?"

The question hit Aoi hard, for a moment she couldn't look Toko in the eyes. After taking a few deep breaths, she managed to meet Toko's gaze. "I want to trust you, Toko. I want us to get out of here together! So I apologize for brushing you off."

"But that goes both ways! I need you to really start talking with me," Aoi continued, her eyes intense. "I don't want to keep going around in circles with you like we always have."

Toko couldn't help but acknowledge Aoi's point- it was always the same arguments between them, over and over again. Most of this was Toko's fault, given her urge to push away Aoi whenever the other girl approached her.

Kyoko's words from a few days ago floated through Toko's mind- about how Aoi truly wanted to be her friend. Toko never believed it before, but now…

"I guess talking with you hasn't been completely terrible," Toko finally admitted. "But we need to focus most of our attention on getting out of here! And now that we know that the Remnants of Despair are in here, we can't afford any needless risks."

Aoi still had her walkie talkie that Kyoko had given her. It seemed like when the Director promised that she could keep it, they weren't lying. Still, the Director was probably listening in on them.

So Aoi wanted to tell Kyoko about the Remnants the first chance she got. But Aoi wanted to do it in a way that wouldn't tip off the captor… or rather, as she now knew, their captors.

"Okay, let's spend the rest of this day figuring out how to use these scissors!" Aoi exclaimed. "And tomorrow, we kick Kazuichi's butt!"

* * *

It was not often that Kyoko Kirigiri felt nervous. As long as she kept the facts straight, Kyoko usually felt confident that her logic would see her through. However, in this particular case the facts were working against her.

As of today, Aoi and Toko were officially missing for six days. Tomorrow, the Future Foundation would contact them to ask if they'd found Byakuya Togami. There was no way to avoid this meeting with her superiors.

Kyoko knew that Aoi probably still had the walkie talkie with her. As much as it risked the enemy overhearing them, it was the only way to learn more about their situation.

So Kyoko tracked down Miss Hagakure in the base. "Miss Hagakure, what kind of communications do you have in this base?" Kyoko asked.

Miss Hagakure smiled. "You're in luck, Kyokyo. After all the fuss with the Towa corporation, I managed to convince a few of the suits to part with some of their technology."

"...It's Miss Kirigiri," Kyoko said, unsure how much of that nickname she could take. "Then is this based equipped with long range communication?"

"Sure is. Even during the rebellion that those brats started, I needed a way to communicate with Resistance members that were out in the city for supply runs or rescue missions." As Miss Hagakure talked, she started walking, and Kyoko followed quietly behind her.

"It wasn't the best, but we got by. And once we augmented it with Towa corporation tech, well…" Miss Hagakure lead Kyoko to a prefabricated building with a large antenna sticking out of it. And inside the building…

Was a large array of consoles, looking much newer compared to everything else in the Resistance base. On the screens of the consoles, various parts of Towa city were visible, including the hospital where Toko and Aoi were being held captive.

"So, Kyokyo. I imagine you want to get in contact with Koko and Fufu?"

* * *

 **A/N: Now there are two running plots going in this story- Toko and Aoi fighting the Remnants of Despair in the hospital, while Kyoko does her best to track them down. The story escalates in intensity, so look forward to the confrontations that will follow! Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	9. How close is too close?

**A/N: I managed to publish a chapter of this before the end of the year! And what a chapter this is- developments between Toko and Aoi, advancement in the plots, and even a critical reveal. Without further ado, it's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: How close is too close?**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"Nothing brings out the best in people like a smile! When you're with a friend, just smile When you want to make the rain go away, just smile. When you see a puppy, just smile. When someone hits you across the face, just smile. And as you lay dying, just smile!"

"Soon, you'll see the wonders of a positive attitude!"

* * *

Kyoko slowly watched the footage of the front of the hospital, her eyes scanning for any helpful detail. Currently, she was watching the battle between Aoi, Toko, and Komaru against the Monokuma robots.

Just as Komaru had said earlier, Toko and Aoi got lured behind the hospital, before the Monokumas proceeded to chase the Komaru away from the hospital. As Kyoko kept watching, she focused on the area behind the hospital.

Suddenly, a new person entered the frame. The person wore a burlap sack with eye holes over their face, and they were carrying Toko over their shoulder, entering the hospital. The person went back outside to carry Aoi into the hospital too, before shutting the front doors. The doors didn't open again after that.

Kyoko quickly rewound the footage, focusing on the person that was clearly the kidnapper. Unfortunately, the only real details Kyoko could pick out is that the kidnapper had a slim body, and long black hair.

Miss Hagakure had been watching the video from behind Kyoko's back. As Hiroko watched the mysterious kidnapper, she said, "May I borrow the computer console, Kyokyo? I need to look up something."

"It is your computer, Miss Hagakure," Kyoko said, letting Hiroko access it. The older woman immediately got to work, typing away at the computer's keyboard.

As she typed, Hiroko suddenly said, "Before the Tragedy, I was a nurse. It was difficult work, but nothing could beat the sense of satisfaction I got from seeing my patients being hale and hearty again."

"That's nice, Miss Hagakure, but what does…" Kyoko's words trailed off as she saw the hospital where Aoi and Toko were being kept. "You used to work there." It was a statement, not a question.

"You're spot on, Kyokyo! That place used to be a general hospital. But it wasn't the biggest hospital, so sometimes patients were sent somewhere else," Hiroko explained.

"So what exactly are you looking for?" Kyoko asked.

"I'm looking for associated clinics. A specific associated clinic, in fact. If my suspicions are correct, I think I know who the culprit behind all this is…"

* * *

They'd promised to make a break to Kazuichi's lair first thing in the morning. However, that still left the entire afternoon with essentially nothing to do.

While her interactions with Toko were slowly improving, there was still a large distance between them emotionally. Aoi wanted to close that distance, even if just a little.

"So I had a thought about tomorrow, Toko," Aoi began.

"You had a thought? What a surprise." Toko said sarcastically.

Aoi did her best to bite back an angry retort, instead saying, "Kazuichi is probably going to send Monokumas after us. Of course I'm going to crush them into scrap! But one might attack you. So I think you need to have this."

Aoi placed one of Genocider's scissors in Toko's hands. "Why are you giving me this? I thought you hated relying on 'her' as much as I do?" Toko asked.

"That's not why I'm giving this to you! I want you to be able to defend yourself, Toko," Aoi said firmly. "You told me the weakness of the Monokumas- their red eye. Now I want to teach you how to destroy one of these dumb robots!"

"And using one of these scissors is supposed to help me how?" Yet Toko asked this seriously, without the usual barb in her voice.

"Even if you're not that strong, all you need to do is get the Monokuma in their red eye once!" Aoi exclaimed, pumping her first. "Do you want me to show you?"

Toko considered this, looking at the pair of scissors in her hand. For the longest time, Toko had only associated the scissors with her other half. But in a situation like this, the moment Toko was cornered, she was pretty much dead.

And Toko refused to die here. Toko wanted to escape, to be reunited with Master, Komaru, and even Kyoko and Makoto.

So as much as a part of Toko wanted to reject Aoi's offer, the writer decided to swallow her pride and say, "Okay, I guess I'll listen."

"I'm glad to hear that! Now, how are we going to do this?"

Aoi carefully considered how she wanted to approach this training session. The swimmer took one of the foam pillows from one of the cots, and held it in front of herself. Okay, pretend I'm a Monkuma and attack me, Toko!"

"A-are you c-crazy, Aoi?! You want me to stab you with these scissors?"

"No, not me!" Aoi yelled. "Stab the pillow! It should be thick enough to stop the scissors, but I want to see how strong you are!"

Toko knew that she was weak, but also knew that Aoi wouldn't stop nagging her until she at least tried. So Toko gripped the scissors, before drawing back her arms and stabbing them at the pillows.

The sharp tip of the scissors buried itself a couple of inches into the pillow before stopping. "I guess this is okay for your first try," Aoi said in an encouraging tone.

"But I'm supposed to stab this into a metal robot, right? It probably isn't good that I can barely stab this into a pillow…" Toko said dejectedly.

"Well that's why we're training! You just need to get in one good strike, so I'm going to make sure you're able to do it!" Still, Aoi felt that they needed to approach this training session in a different way.

Aoi propped up the foam pillow vertically on the cot. "Let's do this. I'll personally guide you through this, okay?"

Toko wasn't entirely sure what that meant, so she gave an ambivalent shrug. What Toko wasn't ready for was Aoi gripping Toko's hands with her own. "Wh-what are you d-doing?" Toko asked, her face turning red.

"Don't make this weird! I'm just helping you wield the scissors properly!" Even so, Aoi was blushing as well. Doing her best to get a grip, Aoi adjusted Toko's hold on the scissors. "Now, I'm going to pull your arms back, and we'll stab the pillow together, okay?"

Toko could barely hear Aoi's words- the writer was all too aware of Aoi's hands covering her hands. Could feel Aoi's body standing behind her, and even how Aoi's chest was pressed up against her back.

It was likely that Aoi wasn't doing any of this intentionally, but Toko's mind was too far gone into the fantasy it was concocting. _This indecent girl… she has me in her grasp! I'm not strong enough to escape. I'm going to sink right into Aoi's body… completely lost in these curves…_

"Hello? Earth to Toko?"

"Ah!" Toko shouted, awareness rushing back to like she was just splashed with a bucket of cold water. "If we're going to do this, let's do it already!"

"For a writer, you definitely need to work on your wording." After that deadpan remark, Aoi helped Toko take aim at the pillow, and then…

"Hey now! Are you really going to damage hospital property again?"

Director Monokuma popped up out of nowhere, furiously glaring at the two girls. "Geez, young people have no respect these days! You give them food, boarding, and even a job, and they throw it right back in your face."

"Of all times for you to pop up," Aoi grumbled, letting go of Toko. "You know, we could try to use this Monokuma as target practice."

"That's the first good idea you've had all day," Toko said, turning the scissors onto Director Monokuma.

"Wait a second! Attacking me is against the rules!" Director Monokuma shouted. "I didn't think I'd need to explain this, but apparently you girls need to have it hammered in."

Director Monokuma unsheathed his claws, and the sight of them caused Toko to back off. "Now, here are some rules that will be enforced from now on. You are not allowed to damage vital hospital property. You are not allowed to attack me, as the voice of the Director."

Angry at her own cowardice, Toko wracked her brain in search for a loophole. "You're not considered 'hospital property'. I wonder, is it the same for the other Monokumas? Because if they aren't hospital property, and not the voice of this Director, then we should be able to attack them."

"Ho ho ho, very perceptive, Miss Fukawa," Director Monokuma said. "Yes, you're allowed to attack my brainless cousins. You are also allowed to attack any other human you encounter in this hospital."

"'Any other human?' That would include Kazuichi and the Director, right?" Aoi said, considering the words carefully. "Are you just that confident that we'll never reach them?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Puhuhuhu… girls as stubborn as you certainly aren't going to make this boring," Director Monokuma said, his red eye shining with malice. "The Director looks forward to seeing what their patients are going to do next…"

Director Monokuma vanished from the room, leaving the two girls alone. Aoi was the first one to react, sighing in exasperation. "It looks like we're not going to be allowed to train anymore. But I don't want to stay in this room forever. We are going to make it to the next floor!"

Toko was still mulling over the rules that Director Monokuma had given. _It's one thing if we're just being watched. But for the Director to suddenly give rules… why? It couldn't be that again, could it?_

"I think it's finally time for us to go to sleep," Aoi said, already tucking herself into the bed. "Good night, Toko!"

As she got into her own bed, Toko looked over at Aoi for a few moments. "Good night, Aoi."

* * *

"Here it is!"

Kyoko looked at the information Hiroko had pulled up to see that it was for a small health clinic. A health clinic that was so small, in fact, that it was staffed by only a single person. "Is this really your primary suspect, Miss Hagukure?"

"I know you're impatient, Kyokyo, but you gotta take this slow," Hiroko said. The older woman pulled up the details of the clinic's sole staff member. "This clinic's nurse is special. See for yourself."

Kyoko read off what she saw on the screen. "Mikan Tsumiki, Ultimate…!" Kyoko's eyes widened. "Ultimate Nurse. I see. You are correct, Miss Hagukure. Mikan is very likely the mastermind behind my friends' imprisonment."

* * *

 **A/N: Next year, I fully intend to finish this story. This first planned chapter of 2019 is the showdown against Despair Kazuichi! So buckle in for the ride, my readers. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	10. Genocider Jill rides again

**A/N:First chapter of this story for 2019! And not only is it a longer chapter than usual, but it also kicks everything into high gear. I am so excited to share this with everyone! Without further ado, it's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Genocider Jill rides again**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"You know, I'm almost envious of people without a purpose. Sure, they're annoying, useless wastes of space, but they're so carefree about their meaningless existence. And no matter what they do, they can't ever get it wrong. Their pointlessness won't ever affect them in the slightest."

"So if you are a person without a purpose, count your blessings. That means no one will ever expect anything of you."

* * *

The next morning, Kyoko called everyone to meet in the surveillance room of the resistance base. "Everyone, I have information about the captor keeping Toko and Aoi trapped in the hospital."

"You've already found out the identity of the captor? Wow, even after all this time I'm amazed at how fast you work, Kyoko!" Makoto exclaimed.

"It was nothing. With Miss Hagakure's resources, it didn't take long to put the clues together," Kyoko said quietly. "Makoto, do you remember the information we received about the Remnants of Despair?"

"If I remember correctly, they were a class from Hope's Peak Academy that fell under Junko Enoshima's control. This class then went on to help her in bringing about the Tragedy." Makoto's eyes widened. "Wait, don't tell me that the person keeping our friends imprisoned-!"

Kyoko nodded. "I believe that it is the former Ultimate Nurse, Mikan Tsumiki. Unfortunately, this brings us no closer to figuring out the motive behind this kidnapping."

"I'm not sure if saying this will help, but…" Komaru hesitated, before gathering her courage and saying, "When me and Toki were traveling through Towa City, we met this guy that was being kept by the Warriors of Hope. He had white-hair, and made these incomprehensible speeches about hope and despair."

"If I remember the dossier about the Remnants correctly, that would be Nagito Komaeda, former Ultimate Lucky Student," Kyoko said thoughtfully. "Do you know what became of him?"

"Unfortunately, I don't. I lost track of him after the fight against Monaca. Sorry." Komaru said, her shoulders slumping.

"That you ran into someone like that and survived is already a miracle!" Makoto said, his eyes filled with concern.

"Still, that does confirm that multiple Remnants of Despair are active in Towa City," Kyoko said. "So our next step is to find a way to communicate with Toko and Aoi."

"And that's where I come in," Miss Hagakure said, arriving holding an advanced-looking walkie talkie.

* * *

When Aoi and Toko woke up in the morning, it was to the sound of static coming out of the walkie talkie. It had been so long, that Aoi admittedly had forgotten she even owned the walkie talkie.

"Could you please shut that up? I'm trying to go to sleep here." Toko grumbled.

Aoi answered the walkie talkie. "Is that you, Kyoko? Or is it Makoto?"

"It's Kyoko." Kyoko said shortly. "Update your status, but be careful about it.

"Okay, then…" Aoi told Kyoko of everything that happened in this hospital so far. As she reached the part about Kazuichi, Aoi said, "And as it turns out, our captor isn't the only person here. On the first floor, there is… a former student of Hope's Peak."

"So you found another Remnant of Despair. I suspect that your captor is also one of them," Kyoko said. "I may as well tell you the identity of your captor. I will say this only once, so pay close attention…"

"Oh not you don't!" Director Monokuma suddenly popped out of the ground, snatching the walkie talkie out of Aoi's hands. Before Aoi could react, Director Monokuma threw it into his mouth, eating it.

"Hey, how dare you!" Aoi shouted furiously. "And how'd you even know what Kyoko was going to say anyways?"

"I used these very sharp bear ears of mine to eavesdrop," Director Monokuma said. "And good thing too! That annoying detective almost gave away some key information!"

"Why does it matter if we know our captor's name or not?" Toko asked, unable to sleep thanks to Monokuma.

For the first time in a while, the speaker on the wall of the room crackled. The voice of the Director said, "I respect my privacy, and you should too! Sooner or later you'll learn who I am, so I want to reveal it on my own terms."

"You know what? You're right. We are going to meet face to face," Aoi said, glaring at the speaker. "And once we meet, I'm personally going to make you regret everything!"

The Director sighed. "Do you really have no better way to channel all that anger? I worry for you, Miss Asahina. I really do…"

The speaker fell silent, and not long after Director Monokuma left the scene. "That is not how I wanted to start this morning," Toko grumbled, getting out of her bed. "So the plan is still the same, right? We go into the room and corner that pink-haired guy?"

"Sure is! So once we finish breakfast, grab your pair of scissors and let's get this over with!" They had been stuck on this hospital floor for days now. Aoi was itching to make it to the next floor- either to find an exit, or find their captor.

* * *

Leaving their room, Aoi and Toko immediately noticed a pair of Monokumas guarding the door where Kazuichi was staying. "There are two Monokumas! Think you could take one on by yourself, Toko?"

"No," Toko answered bluntly. "I can barely stand holding these scissors. They belong to 'her', after all."

"I don't like it any better than you, but it's our best weapon. I don't mind doing most of the fighting!" To demonstrate this, Aoi rushed one of the Monokumas. Immediately, the Monokuma unsheathed it's claws and took a swipe at Aoi. She dodged the strike, and kicked the claws away.

Once Aoi saw an opening, she jammed the scissors she was wielding right into the Monokuma's red eye. The bear machine collapsed on the ground, motionless. Behind her, the second Monokuma tried to attack Aoi's blind spot.

Toko opened her mouth to warn Aoi of the attack, but no words came out. Next Toko tried to move her body, but it refused to obey her. So for a moment, Toko believed she was about to see Aoi be brutally injured.

Aoi noticed the Monokuma behind her just in time, and used her free fist to punch Monokuma away. Then Aoi followed this up with a sweeping kick to the Monokuma's head, stunning the machine long enough for Aoi to finish it off with a stab to the red eye.

"Okay, ow. Just like the first time I fought these things, punching them hurts," Aoi said, shaking her hand. "I probably shouldn't do that too often."

"...You do this to yourself, you know," Toko said, trying to take her mind off her own cowardice. "If you have the scissors, why hit them at all?"

Because I don't want to rely on them, and I imagine you don't either," Aoi answered. "But we can't wait around! Let's corner Kazuichi!"

Toko followed behind Aoi- but not before stopping, and briefly staring at the pair of scissors in her hand. She didn't have the physical strength of the swimmer. Was this really her only source of defense?

* * *

Inside the office, Kazuichi Souda was waiting for them, a group of Monokumas behind him. "It looks like you ladies couldn't stay away! Not that I could blame you- I know I'm one hot stud."

"Just shut up and let us onto the next floor!" Aoi demanded. "We aren't going to let you Remnants of Despair do what you please anymore!"

Kazuichi whistled. "Your surprisingly cute when you're fiery! It's almost too bad I'm under orders to stop you. Maybe I'll turn you into an android and not tell the Director. Then I can just tinker with you forever…"

Aoi could feel her fury building up inside of her, and so she opened her mouth to yell some more when-

"Not even an android would want to be around a sleazy guy like you! In fact, if you tried to to fix a toaster, it would light itself on fire!" Toko yelled out scornfully.

"Toko, where did that come from?!" Aoi asked, surprised. The other girl had been silent up until now, so this outburst was all the more surprising.

Toko's scathing words caused Kazuichi to stagger back, and his face showed something besides malevolent arrogance- the smallest trace of anxiety.

Then it was gone. Kazuichi scowled and said, "I'm not interested in a four-eyed trashy girl like you anyways! We'll see if you can open your mouth again after my Monokumas tear your lips off!"

With that, Kazuichi pointed dramatically at Toko, and the Monokumas converged on Toko. Aoi immediately placed herself in front of Toko, batting away the claws of the machines with rapid kicks.

Even after her insulting speech towards Kazuichi, Toko still wasn't confident in her ability to wield Jill's scissors. Toko hated having to rely on her other side… hated that all she could do was switch over to her whenever there was danger.

As Toko watched Aoi fight, however, the cramped confines of the room were forcing the swimmer to stay on the defensive. Aoi managed to take down one Monokuma, but sweat was appearing on Aoi's face.

Kazuichi was focused on the fight between Aoi and the Monokumas, and if Toko wasn't mistaken his eyes were focused primarily Aoi's chest. While this made Toko shudder with disgust, the writer also saw a single window of opportunity. Toko snuck towards the mechanic…

Aoi winced and sucked her breath through her teeth when one of her arms was scratched by a Monokuma. "At least we're in a hospital, so I can treat this," Aoi said. Then as she looked up from her wounded arm, she noticed Toko near Kazuichi. Toko reached into one of Kazuichi's pockets.

When Toko removed her taser from Kazuichi's pocket, Aoi realized what she was doing. "Toko, don't-!"

In the next second, Toko put the taser to her head and shocked herself, collapsing to the ground. "Gya ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! So who is this hunk?" Genocider Jill asked, springing up only inches from Kazuichi's face.

"Ahhhhhh! Who is this freak?!" Kazuichi tried backing away, but hit a wall behind him.

"Jill! There's no time to explain! There's a Monokuma behind you!" Aoi called out.

"Hey, I wake up and one of my trusty scissors is in my hand!" Jill lazily turned her head towards the Monokuma behind her. "I would have liked a second pair, but I think I can still work some of my art with just one."

In single swift motion, Jill threw her scissors into the red eye of the Monokuma behind her, felling it in a single blow. Jill jumped onto the Monokuma, yanking her scissors out of it's eye and moving onto the next one.

Aoi decided to leave Jill to her "art" and advanced on Kazuichi. "You see what she's doing! Your Monokuma army means nothing to her. So answer my questions. First of all, who is keeping us in this hospital?"

"I- I r-refuse to answer that!" Kazuichi's expression twisted into into ugly grimace of anticipation. "You don't know what the Director's really like. She won't just make you regret you were ever born- she will make sure the last moments of your life are nothing but excruciating suffering."

"So the Director is a girl? That's something new, at least." Still, what Kazuichi was saying sent a shiver up Aoi's spine. "Okay, so can you at least tell me how many-"

Aoi suddenly felt something sailing past her head, which embedded itself next to Kazuichi's head. Kazuichi's eyes flicked towards the scissors, then rolled up into his head as he passed out.

"Hey, what did you do that for?!" Aoi asked, turning towards Jill. "Kazuichi is one of our captors, and was about to crack!"

"Oh, is that who that was? I didn't know anything like that," Genocider Jill said, not looking ashamed in the slightest. "Besides, why are you even in here? What are you looking for? Is it this?"

Jill walked over to a switch that was a few feet away from where Kazuichi had been standing, flipping it. This was followed by the sound of a grate opening. Then Genocider Jill eyed the unconscious Kazuichi. "You know, this is quite the cute guy. I can feel my blood start to catch fire!"

Aoi now placed herself between Jill and Kazuichi. "Sure, this guy was a creep and he's one of the people keeping us here. But there's no need to kill him! Let's just tie him up or something."

Genocider Jill cocked her head in confusion. "But this guy wouldn't hesitate to kill you if he had the chance. Or do something much worse! And yet you're defending him? Do you really have more boobs than brains?"

"That's not what I'm doing!" Aoi snapped. "I refuse to sink to their level. And even a serial killer like you should know better than to just kill senselessly!"

For a moment, Genocider Jill's eyes narrowed. Then she rushed at Aoi, placing her scissors right at the swimmer's neck. "I don't want to hear that from you. A would-be killer like you has no right to lecture me!"

"A 'would-killer?' What is that supposed to mean?" Aoi asked, feeling sweat form on her face again. Jill wouldn't actually kill her, but that didn't make her words less threatening.

"You thought I forgot all about it, didn't you? But no, this is something I personally burned into my memory," Genocider Jill said. "The time you tried to kill not just me, but all of your supposed friends!"

Aoi knew exactly what Jill was talking about. "No, I didn't want to- I mean I wanted to-!"

"Oh ho ho ho, I just had a thought! Does Miss Morose know? Does Miss Morose know that you tried to kill her with Ogre's class trial?"

* * *

When they suddenly lost contact with Aoi and Toko, Kyoko was the only person in the room that didn't panic. "It seems like something unexpected happened. We may need to move onto more direct measures."

"But what exactly are we supposed to do? We don't have a way to contact them anymore!" Makoto said, his face pale with fear.

"No, we do not. However, we do have a way to contact the Future Foundation. In fact, I expect for them to contact us at any moment…" Right as Kyoko said that, the walkie talkie in her hand began to receive a transmission.

As Kyoko answered the call, she knew they would have a lot of explaining to do. That was simply the situation they found themselves in, and Kyoko was determined the make the best of their circumstances.

* * *

 **A/N: From the very beginning, I planned to tackle every aspect of Toko and Aoi's relationship that I could. Starting with when things were at their most turbulent. So on a personal level, expect things to get messy real soon. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	11. A side character in my own head

**A/N: This is the chapter that officially marks the half-way point of this story! So this chapter will have massive amounts of plot. Starting with the conversation alluded to last chapter. For now, it's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: A side character in my own head**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"One day I saw a cat. The cat walked across the street, found a rotten apple clinging to a sewer grate, then ate it. Then it saw a car and started chasing it. I lost sight of the cat after that, so I went on my way."

"...Huh? What was the point of my story? I didn't realize there was supposed to be a point to it."

* * *

When the Future Foundation had contacted Kyoko the previous day, she calmly explained to them the situation with Aoi and Toko. The immediate solution they suggested was to send in helicopters so that a sniper could pick off Mikan.

Still with a calm tone, Kyoko pointed out that this risked the captives being caught in the cross-fire. When she had her superior's attention, Kyoko asked if they could send in more ammo to Komaru, but also requested special new ammo for Komaru's hacking megaphone.

Kyoko's request was acquiesced, but her superior had one warning: "We cannot allow the Remnants of Despair to go free. If this situation goes on for too long, we will be forced to take drastic measures."

Today, Kyoko once again got Makoto and Komaru together, and passed on the message from the Future Foundation.

"The Future Foundation wants to kill the Remnants?!" Makoto explained, his face going pale.

"Of course. The main purpose of the Future Foundation is to spread hope, but also to eradicate despair wherever it exists," Kyoko said with her usual even tone. "So to them, the existence of the Ultimate Despair cannot be tolerated."

"Still, I don't feel like killing the Remnants is the right thing we do. We need to at least take them into custody," Makoto said nervously. "If we're going to find all fifteen of them, we need all the help we can get."

"So you want to keep the Remnants in the hospital alive so that we can ask them for their comrades' whereabouts? I suppose I see your logic," Kyoko said. "But first, we need to get into the hospital, and that's where Komaru comes in."

Komaru stood at attention. "What do you want me to do? My hacking megaphone can destroy the Monokumas, but they can keep sending them until I run out of ammo again."

"This is true. Which is why I requested special ammo for you," Kyoko said, a small smile on her face. "Ammo that will tear through many Monokumas at once. That will help if the enemy tries to overwhelm you with numbers."

"That definitely sounds like it would help. But how will we get into the hospital itself?" Komaru asked. "If Toki and Aoi haven't escaped on their own by now, it's possible the front doors are sealed."

It looked like both Naegi siblings could be insightful when they wanted to be. Addressing Komaru's concern, Kyoko said, "Yes, we do need to get into hospital. And we must do so carefully- we cannot risk the kidnapper deciding to kill Asahina and Fukawa."

"So what do suggest we do? If we can't get our friends out, then they'll be in danger of dying regardless," Makoto pointed out.

"Either we find a way to sneak into the hospital, or we gain the firepower to overwhelm the captor," Kyoko said. "Either way, we cannot be rash."

"Firepower to overwhelm our captor…" Komaru's eyes began shining. "That's it! I know who we can talk to!"

* * *

 _Toko's entire body was aching as she opened her eyes. It looked like she was in the garden area of Hope's Peak Academy, but had no memory of how she got there. For a moment, Toko wanted to lay on the ground and turn to ash._

 _"Oh! She survived!" The voice sounded like an angel to Toko. So the the author craned her neck to see who had spoke those words-_

 _And was met with Aoi's face, full of joy and relief._

Toko woke up, sitting up in her cot. The room they were in looked identical to other cot rooms, but Toko knew better- they were on the second floor of the hospital.

Not that Toko remembered much else of what happened. Yesterday, Toko suddenly woke up to find out that Genocider Syo had defeated the Remnant of Despair. Which had been what Toko wanted, to be fair.

What Toko didn't want was for Aoi to be so troubled by whatever it was that Syo had told her. So it was in silence that they walked up the stairs to the second floor. Arriving at the second floor, the first thing Toko recognized were the stairs to the rooftop.

As expected, the stairs were sealed by a grate. But the grate was also locked with a heart-shaped padlock.

"Of course our way to the roof is locked too. It looks like we have no choice but to meet with our captor," Toko said, groaning.

"Didn't you say before that there were three floors to this hospital?" Aoi asked.

"You're focusing on the wrong part!" Toko shouted. "Since there's only two floors, that means there's one less floor for us to go through."

"I guess so…" It was rare that Aoi was this low energy. A part of Toko wanted to snark that being low energy was her shtick.

Instead, Toko said, "I thought you'd be more pumped up about being so close to escaping. Don't tell me that you let her get to you! Don't you usually ignore her?"

"It's different this time. Genocider Syo told me something that I can't really ignore." Aoi stopped talking, then looked at Toko with an uncertain expression. Finally, Aoi asked, "So what do you remember about Sakura's class trial?"

"Not all that much. Last thing I remember is telling you about how she probably attacked Sakura. When I next woke up, the class trial was over," Toko said. Then again, Toko had been "asleep" for most class trials. "I don't think I even know who killed Sakura."

Aoi's fists clenched, and Toko instantly knew she'd hit a sore spot. While Toko had never had a good relationship with Sakura, she also knew that Sakura had been Aoi's best friend.

"No one killed Sakura, but everyone also killed her," Aoi said, her fists shaking. "Because Sakura committed suicide."

"Wh-what?!" That was not what Toko expected to hear. "But that woman had the aura of some ancient warrior! Her voice could cause earthquakes! Why would she ever kill herself?"

Now tears formed in Aoi's eyes. "It's a long story. I was the first one that discovered Sakura's body. Then shortly after that, I found a suicide not that said that Sakura had succumbed to the despair of watching everyone fight."

That period of the killing game had been fraught with tension. Toko remembered believing that another murder was guaranteed to happen, and being afraid for her own life.

"So I believed that we all drove Sakura to take her own life. And as her best friend, I failed her the most," Aoi continued. At this point, she looked away. "So to avenge Sakura, I tried to sabotage the class trial and get everyone executed."

Toko didn't remember any of this. Which meant that Genocider Syo had been Aoi's real target. "Then I guess that's what my other half brought up that has you in such a bad funk. It's not like this has anything to do with me."

"Wait, what do you mean, Toko? I almost killed you! And you didn't even know it until now!" Aoi yelled.

"No, you were trying to kill her. It's not like this is the first time someone tried to go after that annoying nutjob and ignore that this is my body," Toko said, scowling. "It probably won't the last either."

"I'm starting to get the feeling that you aren't talking about the killing game anymore," Aoi said, walking closer to Toko. "Could you tell me what you're talking about?"

Toko didn't answer. Instead, she walked away towards the nearest cot room and didn't talk to Aoi for the rest of the day.

* * *

Which brought Toko to this morning. In a rare occasion, Toko had woken up first. So the author took the time to prepare herself for when Aoi woke up. Toko knew that she would want to continue the conversation from yesterday.

Aoi's confession that she tried to kill everyone didn't affect Toko as much it probably should have. But she was used to people trying to kill her, or take advantage of her. Why should Aoi be any different?

"Good morning, Toko." Speak of the devil- the swimmer was sitting up in her cot. "If it's okay, can we continue our conversation from yesterday?"

"You're not going to stop bugging me until I say something, are you?" Toko sighed, drawing her knees up to her chin. "You wouldn't know what it's like. To have big chunks of your memory missing because a psycho is controlling your body."

"No, I don't know what it's like. And maybe I didn't consider it before, when I really should have," Aoi said, her expression guilty. "But now I'm trying to understand!"

Toko closed her eyes, drawing from her fractured memories. You already know that I traveled with Komaru through Towa City. Well, at one point we got into this massive argument. Komaru kept hiding from every remotely scary thing and I got sick of it."

To her credit, Aoi listened attentively to Toko's story, and her expression was concerned. It recalled the dream that Toko had this morning.

"Then after that my memory cuts off for a while, so I assume that my other half took over. When I did wake up again, Komaru was acting as if the argument never happened." Toko found herself scowling again. "And do you know why? Because Komaru apologized to her and thought that settled the argument!"

"Um, Komaru did know that you don't share memories, right? Because maybe she thought you heard the apology too," Aoi said.

"That's not the point! I did forgive Komaru in the end, and we talked things out," Toko said. "But at the time, it did irritate me that even apologies go to her and not me."

For a moment, Aoi stayed quiet, processing what Toko had told her. Then Aoi got out of her cot, walking towards Toko's cot. "I'm going to put an end to that here, then! It's why I wanted to talk to you yesterday. It might not be enough, but I apologize for what I did during Sakura's trial."

"It's fine. As long as you've got that off of your ridiculous chest of yours," Toko said, hoping they could lay the issue to rest here.

Aoi didn't even rise to Toko's comment on her chest. "I didn't finish telling the story yesterday. After the class trial, we found out that the suicide note I found was fake, and Monokuma had taken the real one."

Toko didn't say anything, but also didn't do anything to stop her from talking. Aoi was once again on the verge of tears.

"That's when I learned just how little I understood Sakura. She didn't kill herself because she succumbed to despair," Aoi said. "Sakura killed herself because she wanted everyone to stop fighting. Even in the end, she still considered everyone her friends. After getting hit over the head twice, Sakura didn't have a bad word for anyone."

Now Toko could feel the smallest amount of guilt. Most of her memories of Sakura was of the large fighter glaring at Toko to scare her away from Aoi. But apparently, Sakura had been willing to give her life for her, and for everyone else.

"And we did make it out of the killing game, didn't we? It does mean that I can't explain to Sakura that my other side was the one that attacked her," Toko said. Once again, Toko remembered the dream, or rather memory, from this morning.

So Toko resolved to do something, right then and there. "So I'm going to get you out of this hospital! If you died in a place like this, Sakura would find a way to come back from the dead to kill me."

"Of course I'm not going to die here!" Aoi's spirit was finally returning to her. "Still, I'm glad I could finally tell you this. I should have done this much sooner."

The face of Yuuta Asahina flashed in Toko's mind, and she knew a better time to confess wouldn't happen again anytime soon, if ever. Toko also knew that she shouldn't keep something this massive from Aoi.

"Aoi, I have something to-"

"I know it's rude to interrupt, but I have an important announcement for my patients."

Toko glared hatefully at the speaker in the room. That had to be intentional, but it wasn't like they were in a position to fight back.

"As you've seen, both exits to this place are sealed off with a special lock," The Director said. "Well, both locks are opened by the same key. As a reward for reaching my floor, I will reveal the location of the key."

""You'd better! Because if you don't, I'm going to unleash my other side on you!" Toko yelled, picking up her taser.

"Before I explain further, leave the room you're in and head to the grate blocking the stairs. I left a crucial clue there."

The speaker fell silent, and Aoi and Toko looked at each other.

"So what were you going to say before, Toko?" Aoi asked.

There was every chance that their captor was lying about telling them where the key was. In fact, it was odd for their captor to just let them go so suddenly.

Stil, if there was the smallest chance that they could escape, they needed to take it. "I'll tell you after we're out of this awful hospital."

"Got it! Nothing left to do but get that key and get out of here!" Aoi said, pumping her fists.

* * *

Just as the director said, there was something in front of the grate blocking the stairs to the rooftop. It was a pair of manila envelopes, one with Toko's name on it and the other with Aoi's name on it.

The two girls picked up their respective envelopes. Aoi tore her envelope open while Toko's fingers trembled opening hers. Inside was a something thin and plastic, and pulling it out revealed that it was an x-ray.

Toko studied it carefully, and at first glance it just looked like a normal x-ray, presumably of the inside of her body. Then she noticed something around her stomach area- a small foreign object.

"Toko, I admit I don't know much about medical stuff. But this thing near my stomach isn't supposed to be there, right?" Aoi had spotted the same thing in her x-ray.

Aoi's words caused a spark to go off in Toko's brain. The Director had stated this was a clue to the location of the key. Then could that mean…?

A nearby speaker crackled to life. "I didn't expect anything less from the Ultimate Author. Looks like that brain of yours has figured it out, huh? Then for the benefit of our dim swimmer, I'm going to spell it out."

"There are two locks, but only one key that goes to both of them. So then what do these x-ray reveal? Why, that I split that key in half… and put the halves in your bodies."

* * *

 **A/n: The true plot of this hospital has finally revealed itself! Next chapter, further details will be explained. But the story between Toko and Aoi is nowhere near over. So stick with me for ten chapters that follow. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	12. Needlessly cruel choices

**A/N: The story is going to advance without stopping from here on. This chapter alone, a new character is going to be introduced. One that will make life very difficult very fast for our heroines. For now, it's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Needlessly cruel choices**

"Come again, Koko?" Hiroko asked, wanting to make sure that she heard Komaru correctly.

"If possible, I want you to contact the Warriors of Hope," Komaru said. "Kyoko told us that we need firepower to get into the hospital. And the mechs that they use are powerful. I know that from experience."

"Then I'm sure that you remember that those brats don't listen to us 'demons'," Hiroko said, shaking her head. "Even after the end of the war, those kids are still patrolling to 'prevent the rise of Demons'."

"Having read the reports of the Towa city incident, I find I cannot entirely blame those children for their actions," Kyoko said. "Still, that does mean that they are not an option."

"There's still a way," Komaru said, pumping her fists. "If I'm the one that talks to them!"

"Wh-what?! But the first time you encountered them, they nearly killed you!" Makoto exclaimed, his face pale. "Is it really okay for you to see them again?"

"It's going to be fine! If the Warriors of Hope will listen to anyone, it's going to be me," Komaru said. "I'm not an adult. And I did get to know them over the course of my encounters with them!"

"But you don't know where these kids are," Makoto pointed out. "How are you going to find them?"

"That why I need Miss Hagakure's help," Komaru said, turning to the older woman. "Tell me where their base is. I'm going to talk to them, and if things go well I can convince them to help!"

"Nothing we say is going to convince you otherwise, is it?" Hiroko smiled fondly. "That perseverance is probably how you survived everything that you did."

"The longer this goes on, the longer that Toki is in danger." Komaru's eyes were serious. "And if Hina is her friend, then she's my friend too! So I want to save them both!"

* * *

The words echoed in both their heads. "The key to the exit is inside you."

To be more precise, the key had been split in half and put inside their bodies. A part of Aoi wanted to deny this, to shout at their captor to tell them the truth.

But then Aoi remembered that when they woke up at the beginning of all of this, her gut hurt, and so did Toko's. And then there was the Director's claim that she operated on them.

Aoi knew that she wasn't as smart as Kyoko, or even Toko, but all the previous clues pointed to one conclusion- that the Director was telling the truth.

The news had hit Toko hard too- her body was shaking, and she hadn't spoken a word since the Director's declaration.

So Aoi took it on herself to confront their captor. "Why? Why did you put the key halves inside of us? In fact, why did you trap us in here in the first place?"

"Since you made it to this floor, I suppose I can tell you," The Director said. "The reason I decided to seal you inside this special hospital is because I wanted to try something."

Those words made Aoi's entire body go cold. Something about this seemed terribly familiar. If their captor was really a Remnant of Despair…

"The truth is, I am putting you two in a killing game," The Director said. "I know it's not much of a killing game with only two people. But someone like me can only make a pale imitation compared to what my beloved can do."

"Y-your beloved? If you're a Remnant, does that mean it's Junko?" Toko asked, finally finding the words to talk.

"Of course you'd know who my beloved is. After all, you're the ones that helped kill her," The Director said.

"Then is this your idea of revenge? Trapping us in here and killing us? Because you could have done that a long time ago!" Toko yelled.

"It's amazing. Everything you said is wrong," The Director said. "This isn't about revenge! In fact, I'm jealous that my beloved got to experience the ultimate despair of death. I wish I could join her, but I can't. Not yet, at least."

"What is wrong with you? Are you saying you want to die?" Aoi asked, covering her mouth in horror.

"We're getting off track here. I believe that author accused me of wanting to kill you. That's simply not true."

Director Monokuma popped up from the ground. "I'll take it from here! This is going to be a simple killing game with simple rules. As stated previously, breaking critical hospital equipment is against the rules. That includes myself. However, the locks in the exits are not allowed to be forced open either! They must be unlocked with the designated key."

Aoi let out a frustrated groan. In fact, she had been considering asking Genocider Syo if she could destroy the locks now that they had both the taster and two pairs of scissors.

"And how are you g-going to enforce these r-rules anyways!" Toko shouted, pointing at Director Monokuma.

"It's simple. The moment one of you breaks a rule, both of you will be hit with knockout gas. After that… well, you won't be killed. But after you get operated again, you might no longer be able to recognize yourselves."

Toko's face turned green, and Aoi could feel her legs become weak. They still knew nothing about the person behind all of this. They could be capable of anything.

"Now let me finish telling the rules. The moment one of you kills the other to claim the missing key half, the killing game ends. However, as you noticed, the Director isn't the only human besides you ladies. So another rule- you are not allowed to kill the Director or their associates."

Not that Aoi had been planning to kill anyone anyways. But given the presence of Genocider, it was possible that the Director had planned all this out from the beginning.

But that was enough. Before Monokuma could say anymore, Aoi stepped forward. "So this was your big plan? How pathetic!"

"Oh? What makes you say that?" The Director asked.

"We will never fall for your 'killing game'!" Aoi declared. "I won't kill Toko under any circumstances, and I know Toko would never kill me either!"

At those words, Toko looked over at Aoi, her expression shocked.

"I suppose as survivors of my beloved's killing game, you can afford to be confident. Especially you, Aoi Asahina. I wonder… how long will that last? Can I take that spirit that's survived so much… and break it?"

"Of course you won't! In fact, I dare you to say that to my face!" Aoi yelled. "But you won't, because you're just a coward!"

"That's right. I am a coward. A pathetic, unlovable coward that can't bring herself to join her beloved." The Director sighed. "All I can do is hide in here, and toy with you girls…"

The intercom fell silent, and Director Monokuma disappeared. "Honestly, a killing game? These Remnants of Despair certainly aren't original," Aoi said, shaking her head.

Toko smirked at this. "You really aren't scared of anything, are you?"

"No, that's not true. I get scared a lot," Aoi admitted. "But what matters is to push on no matter how scared you get!"

Toko didn't say anything at first, folding her hands together. "So y-you really believe th-that? That I won't ever k-kill you, even knowing about h-her inside of me?"

"I… admit that I didn't trust Genocider Syo for the longest time. Heck, I still don't entirely trust her." Aoi reached out, then hesitated for a second, before grasping Toko's hands. "But I do trust you!"

Toko's face turned red, but she didn't pull away. "L-like I'm going to give the s-sicko keeping us here the satisfaction of g-going along with their s-scheme."

"Our goal hasn't changed. In order to stop this killing game and escape, we need to locate the mastermind keeping us here." Aoi let go of Toko, then motioned the other girl to follow her.

* * *

Aside from the grate covering the stairs to the rooftop, this floor didn't seem to different from the last one. Then as they went down a corridor, they saw a Monokuma.

But not just an ordinary Monokuma- a giant, grotesque, shambling creature, with a bulging eye and fluids leaking out everywhere. This Monokuma was so huge it blocked the entire corridor.

"What the heck is that?!" Aoi exclaimed, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Th-that's a Beast Monokuma. Looks like we're not being allowed to go any further," Toko said. "Even Komaru has a hard time taking down these things. So whatever is past it must be important."

"It might even be even be our captor! So if we want to escape, we need to-!"

"Do what? I doubt that anything you say would be worth listening to."

"That voice!" After spending so many days in this hospital, Aoi had almost forgotten the reason they ended up in here in the first place. But Aoi could never forget that irritating, condescending voice.

Walking down the corridor behind them, Byakuya Togami approached the two girls. Toko's eyes widened. "Master? So you really were here the entire time?"

As Aoi got a second look at Byakuya, she noticed something distinctly… off about his appearance. "I know it's been a while since I've seen you, Togami. But I don't remember you being so big."

"Hmph. I suppose I shouldn't have expected you to appreciate a form as perfect as this," Byakuya said, scoffing.

"Y-yeah! It doesn't matter how Master looks like! Having a bigger body means that he has more noble blood!" Toko declared.

"Get a grip, Toko! How on earth would he change this much in such short time?" Aoi glared at "Byakuya". "You aren't him! So who are you really?"

"Byakuya" crossed his arms. "It doesn't really matter who 'I' am. After all, for the time being I am 'Byakuya Togami', and I am here to help enforce this killing game. Isn't that right, Toko?"

Toko's eyes glazed over, as they usually did whenever Byakuya was involved. "Of course, Master! Whatever you say!"

"Toko? You do know that isn't really Byakuya, right?" Aoi asked nervously.

"I tire of hearing this girl run her mouth. Shut her mouth for me, Toko!" Byakuya commanded.

"Right away, Master!"

* * *

 **A/n: Yeah, I decided to leave things off on a cliffhanger. This intimate killing game is going to test Aoi and Toko to their absolute limits. Do you believe they'll be able to pull through? Let me know. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	13. An Adorbs Reunion

**A/N: This story is already a spoiler, but for this specific chapter, massive spoilers for Ultra Despair Girls. Just to be safe, I am also putting trigger warning here for allusions to sexual assault. If you are prepared for all that, read on. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: An adorbs reunion**

The crazed look in Toko's eyes kept Aoi rooted to the ground in fear. The way that Toko was reaching out to her… could she really be about to…?

 _No! I can't let myself think like that! I told Toko that I trusted her. Now, I need to prove it!_

So Aoi did not move to defend herself. Instead, she looked Toko straight in the eyes, and held out her arms. Waited for her friend to come to her.

For a moment, Toko paused. "Wh-what do you think you're doing? Are you s-stupid?"

Aoi took advantage of that pause, and pulled Toko into her arms. "You weren't going to hurt me. But you also need to be brought back to your senses. So be happy I didn't decide to slap you in the face!"

Suddenly close to Aoi's body, Toko's face turned bright red. "W-with how hard you hit, you c-could probably knock my head off my shoulders. So I appreciate not being slapped."

This can't be!" 'Byakuya' exclaimed, his voice suddenly going up in pitch.

Which Toko did not miss. "Wait… you aren't Master !" She detached herself from Aoi to glare at the Impostor. "How dare you impersonate him!"

"Hmph. If this is how annoying you always are, I can see why the real Byakuya hates you," Imposter said, crossing his arms. "You're someone to keep an eye on, Aoi Asahina."

"You say that like I care about what Togami thinks. Or what you think, for that matter," Aoi said, shaking her head.

"I swear on the Togami name that I will crush that arrogant attitude of yours!" Imposter declared, pointing at Aoi.

"Shut up! You don't have the right to even speak Master's name!" Toko shouted.

At this point, the Impostor Byakuya had nothing left to say to either of them. So ignoring Toko, he turned around and disappeared somewhere into the hospital.

Giving a sigh of relief, Aoi turned around- and lay her eyes on the Junk Monokuma again, letting out a scream.

"You can't have seriously have forgotten that was there in the past few minutes?" Toko asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Of course not!" Aoi exclaimed, feeling her heart hammering in her chest. "But it's so freaky looking. Can we just kill it already?"

"Genocider might be able to do it. But we don't have a plan for what to do after," Toko said. "And we need to worry about that impostor too."

"You're probably right. First thing we need to do is take down that impostor." Aoi pumped her fists. "We defeated Kazuichi! And if we can take down one Remnant of Despair, we can take down another!"

"I knew you would say that," Toko said, smiling wryly. "You're definitely good at being a pain in the ass, that's for sure."

"Yeah, and I knew you'd say that." Aoi smiled back at her friend, enjoying the banter. "I've lost count of how many times you've given me a headache."

All too quickly, the smile on Toko's face disappeared, and her expression became grim. "Come on, let's explore this floor more. I don't want to wait days before we make our move again."

Aoi took one last look at the Junk Monokuma. The shambling machine had not moved once this entire time. But it's red, jagged eye seemed to be staring right through her.

Tearing her gaze away, Aoi followed Toko into another part of the hospital.

* * *

"It should be around here."

Komaru quickly checked her hacking gun's ammunition, then approached Towa Hills. This was the previous headquarters of the Warriors of Hope, but it had been destroyed. Their new headquarters was located in a building not too far from there.

On one hand, having their new base so close to the old base perfectly summed a child's logic. On the other hand, only Hiroko had managed to find the new base, so there was something to be said about that.

Following a side path, Komaru reached a small, shabby building and knocked on the front door. Then just in case, she armed her hacking gun and held it out in front of her.

The door opened, and a small girl with pink hair filled the doorway. "I don't know which Demon this is. But you have some nerve-" then she noticed Komaru, and her eyes widened.

"Now here's an adorbs face I never thought I'd see again! You remember me, right? I'm the girl who can always knock the crowd dead, Kotoko Utsugi!"

"Of course I remember you, Kotoko. In fact, I couldn't forget you even if I tried." And there were some things that Komaru did in fact try to forget. "But what was that about Demons?"

"Well, after you defeated the totally trashy Monaca, the Warriors of Hope have been trying to reach a ceasefire with the Demons," Kotoko explained. "But some of them are really stubborn on wanting to pick on small children. So we need to send them away with a painful lesson!"

"Oh. So things aren't going smoothly…" Komaru knew that the bad blood would be hard to get over. But to hear it first hand was mildly disheartening. "Wait, that's not why I'm here! I need to ask something of you!"

"Oh? It must be serious if you have to come crawling on your knees to us," Kotoko said. "You realize I could ask you to do anything in return, right?"

"First of all, I'm not on my knees," Komaru said, taking a firm tone. "And second of all, I'm asking politely right now. But the situation is urgent, so I'll stop asking politely if I have to!"

Kotoko took a step away. "Okaaay, then. Looks like you're not in a mood to play around."

"No, I'm not. Now listen carefully, Kotoko…"

* * *

Once they passed their cot room, Aoi put her guard up. If the point beyond the Junk Monokuma was where the Director was, then this half of the second floor was where the Byakuya imposter was hiding away.

Just as she thought, very soon they came up patrols of normal Monokumas, along with a new kind of Monkuma, which had what looked like-

"Bombs." Toko said, glaring at the new Monokumas. "Which would make these Bomb Monkumas."

"You're kidding, right?" When Toko didn't respond, Aoi's face went pale. "How on earth did you and Komaru manage to beat these things?"

"That's not even as bad as these Monokumas can get," Toko said. "To answer your question, Komaru usually shot at them from far away."

"That's not exactly an option for either of us," Aoi said, getting a sinking feeling in her stomach. "If one of those attack us, we're in trouble."

"Tch. I'm not going to let this stop me, that's for sure," Toko said, irritation leaking in her tone. "Even if this hospital gets burned down in the process."

"Let's avoid doing that!" Aoi quickly exclaimed. "But I do agree that it would be best for us to make a plan before we go any further. Are we retiring to the cot room for the day?"

"We really don't have anything better to do." It was hard to believe that the Director had announced her killing game a little over an hour ago. Toko felt more tired than she ever had in her life.

After they entered the cot room, they sat in their separate beds. _Wait, is it just me, or is Aoi closer than she usually is?_

Trying to get her mind off of that, Toko asked, "So of all the things you could have done, why did you decide to hug me?"

That didn't help- now Toko's eyes were wandering towards Aoi's chest, which she could almost see through the hospital gown. Toko's face was pressed against that not too long ago, and she could feel her body heat up.

"I told you, I didn't want to hit you," Aoi said, pulling her knees up to her face. "Call me crazy, but I'm starting to get used to being around you. And I do want to treat you better! I think you deserve to be treated better."

Toko wasn't sure how to respond to this. If this was as early as when Aoi first arrived in Towa City, she would have called her stupid, or shameless, or other insults.

Yet this attraction, this sensation that pulled Toko towards Aoi was starting to overpower her usual disdain of the swimmer. And it was true, they were becoming genuine friends, after just how contentious their previous history was.

A part of Toko wanted, hoped for more. This was the part of herself that Toko would keep hidden away for as long as she could.

"No matter what I tell you, you're going to do whatever you want. So I'm not going to stop you," Toko finally said.

"You're not going to let go of that sour attitude of yours, are you?" Aoi sighed. "I guess if you did, you wouldn't be Toko."

"Tomorrow, we're going to find a way to get past the Bomb Monokumas. Try to use your brain for once." With that final comment, Toko got under the sheets.

But she didn't sleep. Sleep eluded Toko with all the thoughts she had running around her head, about the imposter Byakuya, and about Aoi.

* * *

When Kotoko finished listening to Komaru's story, she folded her arms. "I see, I see. Let me ask you something, Big Sis Komaru. Why should I do anything for a girl as unadorbs as Toko?"

"Because once, you were in trouble. And me and Toki could have left you behind. But we didn't! So you owe it to her to help!" Komaru didn't mention that Toko did want to leave Kotoko behind.

"As much as I hate it, you're right." Thankfully, Kotoko didn't seem remember that. "Okay, fine. I'll consider it. But only because it's you that's asking!"

With that, Kotoko closed the door, and no matter how much Komaru knocked she didn't get an answer. Komaru had no other choice- she would have to hope that the Warriors of Hope could get over their distrust of adults to help.

* * *

 **A/n: Yes, Kotoko will now be a part of this story, and I do not plan to shy away from either her past or her actions. Meanwhile, readers might remember how our girls ended up in the hospital in the first place. This chapter does answer a few things. The plot threads are coming together really soon. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	14. Obligatory fanservice scene

**A/N: There is nudity in this chapter, although I do go out of my way to describe it vaguely. Although, I will take this chance to say that there will be more sexual themes from this point forward. I only hope that my writing is good enough to handle this sort of thing. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Obligatory fanservice scene**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"So what did you think of the cliffhanger, and how it was resolved? Were your expectations met? Were they surpassed? Oh, I can only hope you weren't let down. After all, there's nothing worse than a build up that results in no payoff."

"That's why I hope you all go into this with as low expectations as humanly possible!"

* * *

"Big sis! Catch me if you can!"

Aoi ran after Yuta, who was sprinting away at a pretty impressive speed. While she did her best to keep up, eventually Aoi found herself giving up, panting to catch her drift.

"Looks like you fell behind," Yuta said, grinning from ear to ear. "That means I win!"

"You're in track and field! Of course you're fast," Aoi exclaimed. "If we were in a pool, you'd be in so much trouble!"

"You're probably right," Yuta said. "After all, you're not just any swimmer. You're an Ultimate!"

Aoi Asahina had received her invitation to Hope's Peak only a few days ago. Thinking about it filled Aoi with anticipation and excitement in equal measures, for the same reason: She was already imagining what kind of athletes she'd meet there.

"Don't think you won't be an Ultimate too! Once you reach high school, you're sure to get in too, Yuta!" Aoi said, pumping her fists. "And when you do, I don't plan to go easy on you!"

"I don't expect anything less," Yuta said, mirroring her sister's motions. "I'll train as hard as I can to be ready for that day!"

* * *

Aoi sat up in her hospital cot, rubbing her eyes. She had not expected to dream about her little brother in circumstances like this. Then again, perhaps that dream had been her mind nudging at her.

After all this time, Aoi still didn't know what had become of Yuta. Since being captured, she had very little time to think of anything but escape. If anything, this added to Aoi's motivation to escape- she knew that her brother had to be out there, somewhere, so she couldn't afford to be stuck in here.

Then, Aoi slowly became aware of something else that she didn't get a chance to think about before. "Oh my god, I reek!"

"What are you going on about?" Toko asked, also getting up from bed.

"I smell terrible! I can't believe I didn't realize it until now. We haven't showered since we were captured," Aoi said, now trembling with disgust. "Now I can't stop feeling gross."

"Heh. Welcome to the garbage heap that is my life," Toko said, smiling wryly. "At least we can be gross together."

"Oh, no we aren't! We are going to find a shower in this place, and then we're going to get this grime off," Aoi said, getting off of her bed. "I'm not doing anything else until that's finished."

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that." Toko said, getting back into bed. It wasn't a minute later that she found herself getting literally dragged out of bed by Aoi.

* * *

It was not in Kyoko's nature to just wait around. Even in the current situation, where not much direct action could be taken, she wanted to see if there was anything new she could learn.

So first thing in the morning, Kyoko approached Komaru. "So if the Warriors of Hope agree to lend you their aid, what do you plan to do next?"

"I… haven't thought that far ahead, actually," Komaru said, scratching her face. "But if we can get just one of them to help with their mechs, then the kidnapper loses a lot of power."

"I would like to listen to the logic behind your conclusion," Kyoko said, already going into focus. "Because it's possible that if the kidnapper is threatened, they will immediately kill their hostages."

Komaru went cold at how casually Kyoko mentioned the possibility of their friends dying. "The best case scenario is that all five Warriors of Hope agree to help. With five mechs, we can extract Aoi and Toki out of the hospital before their kidnapper can do anything."

"I see. But what less than five of them agree to help? Or in a worst case scenario, what if none of them agree to help?" Kyoko asked.

"If none of them agree to help… it would be completely hopeless," Komaru admitted. "As long as the kidnapper can make infinite Monokumas, they can stall me until I run out of ammo again, even with the special new ammo I got."

"I believe I now have a reasonable understanding of the situation." Kyoko smirked. "And I can say with complete certainty that you only need the aid of one Warrior of Hope."

"Really? Does that mean that you have an idea?" At this point, Komaru was willing to take any help she could get.

"You have it backwards, Komaru. You're the one that hold the key to resolving this situation," Kyoko said. "Now, you have to figure out how."

"Uh, I can't figure it out. That's kind of the entire reason I'm asking you, Kyoko," Komaru said. She'd heard from Makoto that the detective could be frustratingly vague, but she'd never experienced it herself until now. "Could you just tell me what I'm supposed to do?"

"I don't believe I need to do anything," Kyoko said simply. "If you want to be the one that rescues your friends, then you'll know exactly what to do."

With that, Kyoko walked off, leaving Komaru shaking her head. For the time being, she couldn't make any more plans. First, she needed to wait until one of the Warriors of Hope answered her summons, if any of them did.

* * *

Aoi was surprised to find it took all of her strength to drag Toko from her bed. In her mind, she had a mental image of Toko as shut-in that never left her room. Then Aoi remembered that technically, this was the body of Genocider Syo too.

Even so, she went searching for a shower somewhere nearby. On the section of the second floor where they were staying, Aoi managed to find a staff room. Inside the staff room was a stroke of genuinely good luck: there was a fully functional shower room, with shampoo and body soap.

"Let go of me!" Toko cried out, struggling against Aoi's grip.

"Not until we finally take a shower!" For a moment, Aoi stopped pulling. "Why do you hate showers, anyways?"

"Because every shower I've ever had has been awful," Toko said, scowling. "Although, most of my 'showers' have been stuff like people spraying me down with hoses."

"That's awful!" Aoi quickly tried to think of a way to change Toko's mind. "But showers don't have to be like that! In fact, with me, showers are instantly a thousand times better!"

"And why should I believe you?" Toko asked, starting to tug away again.

"Because, um… I'm the Ultimate Swimmer! And no one knows more about water than I do!" Aoi didn't actually believe that- she knew that better swimmers existed, much like how Sakura talked about there being a better fighter than her. But at this point, Aoi was willing to say anything if it got Toko to listen.

Toko stopped. "I guess if you'd be good at anything, it would be stuff like this. Okay, just one shower. But just one, okay?"

"One shower is all I'm asking for!" With that, Aoi guided Toko into the shower room. However, as they entered, Aoi realized the one thing she hadn't thought of yet.

Toko was begrudgingly stripping out of her hospital gown- the gown that they were wearing nothing under, not even underwear. Aoi was now getting an eyeful of Toko's naked body.

Aoi had seen the scars on Toko's legs, but other types of bruises were scattered on different parts of her body. Her skin had an unhealthy pallor to it, but it wasn't as bad as Aoi expected it to be.

"This shower was your idea! Are we going to get on with it or not?" Toko asked, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Of course we are!" Aoi did her best to gather her courage, then removed her own hospital gown. Immediately, Toko's eyes widened, her face went red, and she turned away.

Aoi did her best to push past the discomfort she felt. She turned on the shower, adjusting the water until it was pleasantly warm. As the water fell, it caused the hair of both girls to go flat.

Now it was Aoi's turn to be caught off guard- she's never seen Toko's hair like this before. The author always talked about how ugly she was, but right now she looked pretty to Aoi.

"Okay, first we gotta wash our hair. Here, take this!" Aoi handed Toko the bottle of shampoo. Toko glared at the bottle, but didn't do anything else.

"Do you not want to wash yourself? Do you…" Aoi hesitated, then pushed on ahead. "Do you want me to wash your hair?"

"Since you wanted this, go ahead," Toko said, almost under her breath. "But make it quick!"

Taking the bottle of shampoo, Aoi squirted some of it onto her hand, then lathered it into Toko's hair. The swimmer did her best to not get any in her friend's eyes. As she was doing this, however, something happened.

Aoi became aware of her heart beating away in her chest. It was beating faster than she thought it would… but why? All she was doing was washing Toko's hair.

Once she finished getting all the shampoo out, Aoi made to step away, but Toko shook her head. She took the shampoo, and put some on her hand. Then she reached up towards Aoi.

Aoi closed her eyes, and soon she felt Toko's fingers combing through her head. So of the shampoo fell on her face, but Aoi didn't get angry. More than that, her heart was now beating faster. Could Toko hear it? Or… could Toko feel it?

Thinking about it, Aoi could feel something, could hear something. It was Toko's heart, and it was also beating away at great speed. Now Aoi could feel her face grow hot. This whole situation was so strange… but it wasn't in a bad way.

"I'm done now." Toko stepped away, and Aoi opened her eyes. Next, the girls took a bar of body soap and started scrubbing themselves.

They tried not to look at each other. But Aoi looked to see if Toko was peeking, and Toko looked at Aoi back. Both girls had red faces, and Aoi found herself short of breath.

Toko had made all kinds of comments about Aoi's body before. But something about this… was different. Toko wasn't making any kind of comment, but Aoi could still feel herself becoming flustered.

More than that, Aoi had never had a thought about what kind of body Toko would have, but all she had to do was turn her head to see it. And the thought sent a strange, warming feeling up Aoi's spine.

Thankfully, once they finished cleaning themselves, Aoi turned off the shower, and exited the room quickly. She located a clean hospital gown, and put it on. Aoi had to admit, she felt a lot more like herself now.

Toko followed not long after, also wearing a new hospital gown. "I guess that wasn't the worst shower in the world. But don't expect me to take another one!"

"At least we're finally clean! Now if only we could wash away those Bomb Monokuma," Aoi said, stretching her arms as she relished in feeling refreshed. "At least that would solve another of our problems!"

"Wash them away?" Toko bit her thumb, gears turning in her head. "For once you might have said something half smart! Aoi, could you go find a bucket?"

"A bucket?" Then after a few minutes, Aoi's eyes lit up. "Ohhhhh! I think I see what you're saying now!"

* * *

Once Aoi located a bucket, she quickly filled it with water from the shower room. Following Toko's lead, they went back to where the regular Monokumas and the Bomb Monokumas were patrolling. When one of the latter walked off on it's own, Toko pointed at it. In a moment, Aoi rushed forward, and doused it with the water from the bucket.

The Bomb Monokuma's red eye glowed, and it took a bomb from it's back and threw it and the girls. The bomb landed at the girls' feet… and then did nothing.

"Now, Aoi!" On Toko's command, Aoi rushed at the Bomb Monokuma, before kicking it right in the chest. It went flying right into where the other Monkumas were clustered.

Aoi quickly took Toko and went behind a sofa to take shelter. Not a second later, a loud explosion ripped through the air. Once the noise faded, Aoi peeked over the sofa, to find that Toko's plan had worked: All the Monkuma had been destroyed.

"That was awesome! We can finally get through here!" Aoi exclaimed.

"Yes, finally. We can go right up to that… impostor, and make him pay!" Toko knew that she was looking forward to defeating the man that had dared to put on Byakuya's face.

"Right! Let's go beat him up!" As Aoi and Toko rushed deeper into the second floor, Aoi thought back to how Toko had managed to come up with an effective plan so quickly.

And once again, Aoi could feel her heartbeat pick up in chest.

* * *

 **A/n: Next chapter, we're going to into a confrontation with the Ultimate Impostor! Of course, the bonds between the main girls will continue to escalate. That has been the main heart of this story from the very beginning, so I am putting all my writing ability into this romance. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	15. Don't tell me how to feel

**A/N: Toko and Hina versus the Ultimate Impostor! This is the greatest test of the teamwork between our main characters so far. And of course, the world outside the hospital keeps moving without them. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

C **hapter 14: Don't tell me how to feel**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"We're all creatures of habit, aren't we? The reason that addicts always fall back into their vice is because they can't imagine their life without their precious crutch. Everything that came before is meaningless to them!"

"As for me, my addiction is nothing less than an endless amount of love!"

* * *

The adults in the Resistance base were talking amongst themselves, and they didn't have many friendly words. This, believe or not, was good news for Komaru. It meant that a certain someone had finally arrived…

"Hello again, Big Sis Komaru! You must have been absolutely craving more of my absolutely adorbs appearance!"

"Hello, Kotoko! So, have the Warriors of Hope decided on if they're going to help or not?" Komaru asked. She had Kyoko and Makoto with her.

"Here's the thing. Most of them turned the idea down, and they were really mean about it too!" Kotoko said, sniffling. "The only reason that I'm here is because I have such a special bond with you!"

"'Special bond'? What is that supposed to mean?" Makoto asked.

"You're Komaru's big brother, right? Glad you asked!" Kotoko exclaimed. "We were alone in a room and I had her-"

"Okay, that's enough of that!" Komaru said loudly. "The really important thing is that Kotoko has access to her mech!"

Unfortunately, Komaru had been too loud- the various adults were now looking right at them, and they weren't happy.

"That little bitch is back?"

"Is she going around killing adults again?"

The smile vanished from Kotoko's face, replaced with utter horror.

"All of you, leave her alone!" Komaru shouted. "Kotoko is here because I want her to be!"

"We don't want her here!"

"Punish her!"

Kotoko had curled into a ball, trembling and with tears going down her face. "Leave me alone! Please don't hurt me. I'll be good…"

"All of you, shut up. You mouthbreathers are wasting your time."

Komaru only knew one person that talked like that. Even so, she had a hard time believing her eyes when into the base, in walked in none other Byakuya Togami.

* * *

When Aoi and Toko ran into the room, they spotted the Imposter standing in the middle. Aside from that, the room was completely empty- there weren't even Monokumas to guard him.

So Aoi didn't hesitate- she immediately dashed at the Imposter, grabbing him by the lapels. "Okay, you're going to tell us how to get past the Junk Monokuma!"

"Or what? You're going to kill me? You couldn't do it before," the Imposter said, an arrogant smirk on his face. "And you're not going to do it this time."

"First of all, you're not Byakuya! Second, I'm not going to kill you," Aoi said, glaring at him. "But if you don't help, then I have no problem beating you up and leaving you here!"

"W-wait, don't do that! You're going to mess up Master's flawless f-face," Toko said.

"Didn't I just say this isn't really him? You need to focus, Toko!" Aoi yelled, frustrated.

The Imposter chuckled. "Surely, you must have wondered why I am here alone, without even a Monokuma to protect me. You aren't that stupid."

Aoi did wonder that. Right now, nothing was stopping her from just punching him in the face. She had a feeling he was planning something, so she decided to do it before he could try anything.

With blinding speed, the Imposter broke dodged the punch and broke out of Aoi's speed. Then, he charged at Toko.

Aoi jumped onto him and repeatedly hit him, but the fat seemed to be absorbing all her blows. From his pocket, he took out a single pillow feather.

The sight of which caused Aoi's stomach to drop like a rock, and she tried to rip it away from him. But it was too late- the Imposter shoved the feather under Toko's nose.

Toko sneezed, and in the next second she was replaced by Genocider Syo. The Imposter threw Aoi off of him, and she landed on the floor painfully.

"Gya ha ha ha ha! Good morning, everyone! Or is it morning? It's hard to tell when these things are posted," Genocider said.

"Greetings. I am your Master, and you will serve me," Byakuya ordered. "You will get rid of this other girl."

For a moment, Genocider studied the Imposter. Then she said, "You're not Master, and how dare you believe you can trick me! My connection with Master sees beyond such dirty tactics."

"At least you know better," Aoi said, sighing in relief as she stood back up. "Now, help me restrain-"

A pair of scissors flew past Aoi's head, silencing her. Genocider Syo grinned madly. "Hey there, Boob Knight. You've been keeping busy. I don't know what you did, but you have this body all hot and bothered!"

"Hey, why did you attack me? We're on the same side!" Aoi shouted.

"Oh? I know you don't have much in your head, but you must know that I'm not on your side," Genocider said.

"Wh-what? You can't be on the same side as our kidnappers. Not even you would sink so low!" Aoi said, even as she started shaking.

"Oh, I'm not on their side either," Genocider said, wielding a pair of scissors. "I just don't like you, Boob Knight! And I'm going to put you in your place!"

Syo slashed at Aoi, who was forced to move out of the way. To Aoi's fury, the Imposter watched this with amusement.

"Why are you doing this? You're not going to kill me," Aoi pointed out. "You don't kill girls!"

"You could probably pass for a boy, if you really tried," Genocider said, her cheeks turning bright red. "You certainly have the strong, thick legs and big, meaty arms of one!"

"Please stop talking about me like that!" Aoi tried to kick at Syo's legs, to try and stop her from attacking. But the serial killer dodged them all with grace, giggling all the while.

"You can't run forever~! Sooner or later, you'll be bathed in glorious red!" Syo exclaimed. "Of course, you like wearing red anyways, so you won't look that different!"

Aoi jumped backwards, and hit a wall. At first, she could feel terror well up inside of her. Then she got a stroke of inspiration, and stopped moving.

"Oh, are we stopping our game so soon? And I was finally starting to have fun!" Syo said, licking her lips with her abnormally long tongue. "But if you're going to hold still for me, then don't mind if I do!"

Syo stabbed fiercely- and Aoi dodged at the last second, causing her scissors to lodge themselves into the wall. Aoi took the chance to grip Syo by the shoulders.

"Look, I know you have your reasons for not liking me!" Aoi exclaimed. "I know I have trouble trusting you too. But I won't fight you! Even for as much of a pain in the ass you can be, I care about your well-being!"

At first, Syo's crazed expression didn't change. Then, like a flick of a switch, the serial killer melted. "Ahhh, you're so forceful, Boob Knight! I feel like my entire body is burning under your gaze!"

Without any effort, Syo broke out of Aoi's grip and flipped towards the middle of the room. Winking at Aoi, she said, "I'll be keeping my eye on you, hot stuff. Depending on what you do, you'll live through this. Or you'll end up stained in red anyways! Either way, goodbye for now~!"

Toko took the pillow feather from the Imposter and tickled her nose, which caused her to sneeze and switch back to Toko.

"...You could have at least stuck around to help with the fight," Aoi said, sighing from Syo's antics.

"Hmph. I should have known that the serial killer would be hard to control. No matter." The Imposter pointed at Toko. "Fukawa! I am placing my trust in you. Remove this inconvenience from my sight."

"N-no. I won't fall for that trick t-twice!" Toko declared. "You're nothing but a pathetic imitation!"

"I am a flawless imitation. If anyone here is pathetic…" The Imposter's eyes went cold. "It's you, Fukawa!"

"Don't you dare talk about Toko like that!" Aoi tried to hit the Imposter again, but he moved with that deceptive speed of his.

"Don't fool yourself. You're a person that can't function on her own," He continued, never taking his eyes off of Toko. "First it was me, 'Byakuya'. Then it was that talentless girl, Komaru. Now it's this brainless sack of muscles, Aoi Asahina."

"...It's true. I've always hated people. But at the same time, I can't stay away from them, so I get betrayed over and over again," Toko said quietly. "But I won't change who I am- after all this dour, anti-social girl has finally found people that won't leave!"

"And what good is that if you're useless on your own?" The Imposter said arrogantly. "What good is it when going up against me, Byakuya Togami?"

"That is the last time you use that name!" Toko nodded at Aoi, and the swimmer instantly understood. She attacked the Imposter, who avoided it as usual.

Then he felt something stabbing into his neck, followed by a strong electric current running through his body. Toko had snuck up behind him with her taser.

Aoi took this chance to strike while his guard was down- kicking at wherever she could reach. The Imposter feel to his knees, and for a moment Toko and Aoi stopped and watched him.

Far too soon, he got back up. "What does it take to take this guy down?" Toko asked, glaring.

"Give up. This perfectly sculpted body is immune to any kind of physical attack," The Imposter gloated. "You will exhaust yourself before you accomplish anything."

"Come to think of it, why are we still fighting you?" Aoi wondered out loud. "It's not like you have a key to the exit, or a way past the Junk Monokuma."

"Yeah, that's right! Dealing with this gross man is just wasting time and energy," Toko said, turning away from him. "Let's just get out of here."

"N-no, wait! That's not how this is supposed to go! You're supposed to engage in battle with me, as one of your captors."

Aoi didn't listen, turning to leave the room as well.

"You will not leave this room!" The Imposter charged straight at the two girls- which was exactly what they were waiting for.

"Toko, now!" At that signal, Toko jabbed the taser into the Imposter again, stunning him on the spot.

"Let's finish him off, at the same time!" Aoi kicked his face, at the exact same time that Toko punched him. Both strikes connected, and the Imposter dropped again- and didn't get back up.

"Well, at least he's finally out of the way," Toko said, rubbing her aching fist. "I'm not going to lie, punching his smug face felt pretty good."

"Honestly, I felt the same way when I slapped the real Byakuya across the face." Aoi looked nervously at Toko, once she realized what she had said.

But there was a small smile on the other girl's face. "I suppose if you wanted to do that again once we finally find Master for real, I can't stop you. In fact, a part of me wants to watch."

"Of course you do," Aoi said, an exasperated smile on her face. "Okay, let's rest up for the day. Tomorrow, we plan for a way to get to our true enemy! As long as we work together, we'll get out of here for sure!"

* * *

Byakuya shuddered. "I don't know why, but I feel a desire to leave this place."

"Not until you explain your presence. We were sent to Towa City to find you," Kyoko said. "And now you just appear with no explanation."

"Normally, I would not waste precious time explaining myself. However, I suppose I do owe the Future Foundation an explanation," Byakuya said. "I was sent here on assignment by them, after all."

"Then, does your assignment have to do with the Warriors of Hope?" Komaru thought about how she hadn't been allowed into their new base.

"That is correct. The Future Foundation received reports of the different machines they used, and how they were destroyed," Byakuya said. "When they heard that the machines were being rebuilt, they decided to allow it… under certain conditions."

"I see. So in exchange for allowing the Warriors of Hope to keep their weapons, they would be under your command," Kyoko deduced. "In theory, this would help speed up the end to hostilities in Towa City."

"As expected, the group of children ended up being brats," Byakuya said, sneering at Kotoko. "They destroyed my communication with the Future Foundation, and decided to 'kidnap me' again. However, this time I was able to walk out on my own."

"That's fine! What's important is saving Toki and Hina!" Komaru cut in. "Then how about, Kotoko? Will you help us rescue them? I promise I'll protect you from anyone that wants to hurt you!"

"Well, since it's you that's asking, Big Sis Komaru… sure, I'll be the hero that everyone needs!"

* * *

 **A/N: With this, we are now entering the final stretch of the story. For Toko and Hina, all that's left is the path to their final captor. For their friends on the outside, an offensive is being mounted to rescue them. These point will all converge! Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	16. Lost in you

**A/N: Last time, our heroines had just scored another victory. Time to see where that victory takes them. At the same time, the outside is finally going to start encroaching on things. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Lost in you**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"It looks like it's time for me to reveal myself. Oh, this is going to be so dirty! How are you all going to react? I could always tease you all for just a little longer."

"After all, I can never measure up to your fantasies of me."

* * *

"Oh Toko~! Wake up!"

Aoi stood in front of her, holding a frying pan filled with scrambled eggs. She was wearing nothing but an apron, with a generous amount of cleavage spilling out from the top.

Aoi sighed. "What am I going to do with you, lazy-bones? You took so long getting up that your food's cold. Maybe I should punish a naughty girl like you!"

Sauntering closer, Aoi licked her lips in a hungry manner. "And believe me, your punishment is going to be a long, unforgettable experience…"

* * *

"Ah!" Toko sat up, her breathing heavy from the aftereffects of her dream. Thoughts like these had followed her for a good while now, but Toko usually repressed them. It seemed like that wasn't going to work anymore, if her fantasies were even bleeding into her dreams.

This was something that Toko hadn't wanted to admit, even to herself, yet this realization refused to be denied- she was truly, hopeless attracted to Aoi Asahina.

"She can never know about this. She's going to be so disgusted with me if she finds out," Toko muttered to herself. "I'll just keep these lewd desires to myself."

It was going to be tough, given the circumstances. But denial was a specialty of Toko's.

"Good morning, Toko," Aoi said, yawning as she stretched her arms. "So what's the plan for today?"

"I s-shouldn't need to say it. Obviously, we're going to reduce our captor's guard to scrap," Toko said, getting out of bed. "Leave the thinking to me."

"I see you have your 'charming' attitude back," Aoi quipped. "I was worried if fighting the Imposter affected you, but it looks like it didn't."

Any further playful banter was cut off by the sound of the speaker turning on. "You defeated my other classmate. You're really outstanding patients, aren't you?" The Director said.

"I'm surprised you can stay so calm at a time like this. You realize that soon there's going to be nothing standing between you and us, right?" Aoi pointed out.

"Eh hee hee hee. You say that, but you still haven't dealt with your worst enemy," The Director answered. "And it's not me. Though speaking of which, you deserve a reward. You wanted me to show my face, right? I'm waiting for you!"

"Huh. Why would they show themselves now, of all times?" Toko wondered out loud. "I don't like this."

"I agree, it irritates me doing this on their terms," Aoi said, scowling. "But we wanted to confront them, so let's play along. Keep your taser ready, just in case."

* * *

"Now, tell me something: What are the specifics about your mech, Utsugi?"

"You're being so formal, Kirigiri. Even someone as pretty as you can't be so serious all the time," Kotoko said, pouting cutely. "How about a smile for me?"

Kyoko didn't smile- instead, she crossed her arms and glared at Kotoko.

"Don't mind her! I remember most of what your mech could do, from when we fought," Komaru said. "So I'll try and fill in any blanks if you forget something, okay?"

Reassured by this, Kotoko took out some blueprints. "Most of it, you should remember. My mech channels electricity to give enemies a painful time. By the way, do you ever wonder who was the first person to stick a fork into an electrical outlet? Like, did someone watch someone else get-"

"Please focus." Kyoko snapped, her patience already wearing thin.

Kotoko flinched. "Okay, okay, you don't have to be so scary!" She pointed to a rifle on the robot design. "This is a new addition! I was inspired by Nagisa's design. It fires a focused beam of electricity at whatever you point it at!"

"I wonder… is there a transformer box outside of the hospital?" Makoto asked. "If we used that beam on it, power could be knocked out in the entire hospital."

"That's a possible idea," Kyoko said, now absorbed in thought. "Though, what would we do after?"

Komaru looked at her megaphone. "I wonder… could we get a message to Toki and Hina? Like, tell them to be at a certain place. That way, they'll be ready for when we cut the power!"

"Doing it like that, we'd only have one chance to put our plan in motion," Kyoko said. "If we fail, our enemy will gain the advantage."

"Then come up with a better plan! But I'm tired of waiting around doing nothing!" Komaru exclaimed. "If we don't decide on something, I'm going to rescue them myself!"

"Calm yourself. When you consider the circumstances, this may be our best plan," Kyoko said. Then she smirked. "However, if I'm not mistaken, you'll serve a key role here."

"You know, you could tell it to her straight, instead of being cryptic like you always are," Makoto said, scratching his face. "But I admit, I feel safer with all of us working with Komaru."

"In that case, we need to outline our plan of attack," Kyoko said. "And when we're going to strike. We need to end this in a single, decisive blow."

* * *

They agreed that the Director's offer was likely a trap. They also agreed that while it was infuriating, they had no choice but to accept the offer.

So it was with great caution that the two of them walked down the hallway, seeing the Junk Monokuma waiting for them.

"We're here! So where are you?" Aoi called out. "You'd better not have been lying!"

"Even after all this time, you're so impatient! But I suppose I should make my appearance!"

Behind the Junk Monokuma, a girl appeared. She looked to be around Aoi and Toko's age, with long, purple hair and purple eyes. She was also wearing a nurse's outfit, and a crazed grin on her face.

"I'm Mikan Tsumiki, and I used to be the Ultimate Nurse," Mikan said. "But right now, I'm an Ultimate Despair!"

"Mikan… come to think of it, your name sounds familiar," Toko said. "You were someone that was even more unfortunate than me!"

"Yes, I had such a miserable life. No one loved me. Everyone stepped on me. At least, until the day that I met Junko Enoshima." Mikan sighed. "She gave this worthless life of mine some value. And then you stole her away from me."

Aoi didn't know what kind of person she expected to be their captor, but she'd been ready to deck them in the face. Looking at Mikan, however, she felt an overwhelming sense of pity.

Suddenly, intense anger overcame Mikan. "This is why I didn't want to show myself before! Because I knew you'd be looking at me with those eyes!" Mikan screamed. "I don't need your worthless pity!"

"Look, I won't lie, I still feel like punching you!" Aoi said. "But it doesn't have to end like this! We've already defeated your accomplices. So you're outnumbered!"

"Puhuhuhuhu. You really need to pay more attention," Mikan said, giggling. "I have my pet here. I also have…"

"Me! I hope you wouldn't forget my cute face," Director Monkuma exclaimed, appearing out of nowhere. "And if you have, I'll carve it into your face!"

"And endless more Monokumas waiting for you," Mikan said. "So I'm going to make you play my game whether you like it or not~!"

"So then why are you here? Just to taunt us?" Toko asked.

"Oh, I said I would give you a reward for making it this far. And it's this!" Mikan held up a key.

"That can't be the key to the exit. There's no way you'd just give it to us," Toko said, glaring at Mikan.

"Oh, you're absolutely right! But this key is going to give you some answers," Mikan said. Then she tossed it at them, and Aoi caught it. "I only hope those answers aren't too terrible for you!"

"Now our game here is going to enter into overtime. I'm going to do everything in my power to drive you to murder each other," Mikan said. "Who's going to sink into absolute despair? Me or you?"

On that ominous note, Mikan walked away. Then the Junk Monokuma followed her, before stopping at a certain point further down the hallway.

Aoi and Toko looked at each other, unsure of what to make of this. Tentatively, they walked a little further. It was then that they noticed that there were doors available that they couldn't access before.

"I'm guessing this key goes to one of those doors," Aoi said, studying the key closely. "The real question is, what are we going to find?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm sick of doing what that loony nurse wants us to do," Toko said. "So I think we should do nothing just to spite her!"

"Yeah, a break should be good right about now," Aoi said, smiling. " Even workouts have a cooldown period, so let's take it easy!"

The two of them walked into an office room that was nearby. Toko took a wheeled chair and slumped into it, while Aoi sat in a regular chair.

The dream from this morning were still in Toko's mind. So she shut her eyes and tried to push it away as much as possible.

"I know how this is going to sound, so I'm sorry if this offends you," Aoi said nervously. "But what kind of books do you write, Toko?"

"I'm not surprised. With all the running around and swimming you do, I doubt you've even picked up a book," Toko said, pushing herself along the floor.

"I'd be angrier if you weren't so right," Aoi said, deadpan.

"For your information, I write romance novels." Toko smirked at Aoi. "A part of me wants you to read them, just to see if they're too spicy for you."

Aoi started blushing. "Knowing how that mind of yours works, I can only imagine what your writing is like. B-but, that did remind me of something I want to ask- why did you decide to become an author?"

Toko stared up at the ceiling while she considered her answer. "...When I was little, my imagination was the place I always escaped to. One day, I was hiding from my parents and I happened to spot a notebook and a pencil. I started writing in it, channeling what I imagined, and… my life changed from there."

"I think it changed for the better! Like, you were a student at the most famous, prestigious school in the world!" Aoi exclaimed.

"So why did you decide to become a swimmer?" Toko asked.

"I was in a lot of sports clubs before, and I found that swimming was what I was best at," Aoi explained. "I don't want to be just any swimmer, though! My dream is to earn an Olympic gold medal!"

"So you want to be the best swimmer in the world. You know what? I can respect that," Toko said. "...as long as I don't have to go swimming."

"You know, you'd probably sink like a stone anyways," Aoi quipped. "But since you brought it up, I could probably teach you! If I train you hard enough, you're bound to learn eventually!"

"Me and my big mouth," Toko groaned, sinking into her chair. The sight caused Aoi to laugh.

In the back of their minds, both of them knew they couldn't keep this up forever. Refusing to play Mikan's game was one thing. But if they did nothing at all, they would remain trapped at this hospital.

Toko grasped onto her taser again, and got out of her chair. Aoi saw this, and nodded.

It was time to finally go straight to Mikan.

* * *

 **A/N: Of course, things aren't going to be that easy. Mikan is going to throw everything she has at our heroines to get them to break. But if you've believed in Aoi and Toko for this long, keep believing in them until the end! Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	17. Yuta

**A/N: From the very beginning of this story, I have been building up a plotline quietly in the background. At long last, the time has come to address this elephant in the room. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Yuta**

"This is an announcement from your director."

"I wonder why funerals exist. I mean, I'm being serious when I ask, who do they benefit? Certainly not the dead- they literally couldn't care less. Not for the living, either, because they always end up feeling worse."

"Funerals are just needless suffering. Maybe we're all emotional masochists?"

* * *

The Director, or Mikan as Aoi and Toko now knew her as, had declared that she would do everything she could to make a killing happen. Neither of them knew what that entailed.

Outside their room, there were a horde of Monokumas. Toko switched over to Genocider Syo to deal with them, to give Aoi time to sneak up on Mikan. But her eyes wandered, and she looked at the various doors.

So Aoi stopped cold when she saw that one door was simply labeled, "Yuta".

"Are you done yet, Boob Knight? These Monokumas are starting to bore me!" Genocider Syo called out.

"Um, maybe! I'll let you know in a minute!" Aoi called back. Then, Aoi looked down at the key she'd been tossed. Since Mikan had given it to her, it was probably a trap. Even still…

"The mystery is still killing you inside, isn't it?" Director Monokuma asked, popping up out of nowhere.

"Okay, confess! This is just your sick idea of a joke, isn't it?" Aoi asked aggressively.

"Oh, it was certainly Mikan's idea! But it's certainly no joke," Director Monokuma said. "But why wait for me to explain it? You can open the door yourself."

Once again, Aoi looked down at the key in her hands. _It's been so long since I've seen Yuta. And come to think of it, whenever I talked about Yuta, Toko and Komaru were weirdly evasive about it._

 _I don't want to start distrusting Toko again, after all we've been through. But this is my brother! I… I have to know!_

Aoi put key into the door's keyhole, then opened it a crack. Her body was blasted by cold air, and a sense of foreboding overtook her. Even so, Aoi pushed the door further…

And immediately slammed it shut, but too late- the sight on the other side permanently burned itself into Aoi's eyes.

"Mikan! Explain this at once!" Aoi shouted. "What did I just see?"

Mikan's voice came through Director Monokuma: "I would think that would have been fairly obvious. It's your brother, or at least what's left of him. I had a hard time finding his body, but he was blown up."

Furious tears streamed down Aoi's face. "You're lying! Something like that could never happen to Yuta!"

Deep down, Aoi knew what she was saying didn't make sense. But she wanted to deny what she's seen on the other side of the door with every fiber of her being.

"But I'm not lying!" Mikan exclaimed, far too cheerfully. "I personally autopsied his body myself!"

"Then why?! Why did you do this to him?" Aoi asked, her voice shaking with every word.

"Oh, I didn't do that to him. Didn't you hear me? All I did was find your brother's body," Mikan said. "Although, in preparation for this, I did do a lot of research into you and your brother. And I do know who was with him before he died!"

 _Mikan has to be lying! Why else would she be saying all of this now? I just have to ignore her, and keep going…_

"Who was it?" The question slipped out before Aoi could stop it.

"None other than your companion and fellow patient," Mikan said, her voice now dripping with malicious glee. "Oh, but you're just going to say that I'm lying again. Instead of wasting your breath, you can just go over to her."

 _It can't be Toko. I refuse to believe that it was Toko! But then that only leaves…_

Genocider Syo. The infamous serial killer that often treated killing like a game, or a sick pleasure. Who never harmed Aoi for being a girl, but her brother….

"Syo!" Aoi ran down the corridor, towards the sounds of Syo inflicting carnage on Monokumas.

The serial killer, who was finishing off the last of the machines, turned towards Aoi. "Woah, that is some blazing fury radiating off your body!"

"Shut up!" Aoi yelled. "The only thing I want to hear out of your mouth is why you killed Yuta!"

"Yuta? Who's that?" Genocider Syo asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Don't act like you don't know! My brother!" Aoi couldn't believe that Syo was playing dumb now of all times.

"You have a brother? If he looks anything like you, then he must be a fine hunk of meat indeed!" Then the rest of of what Aoi said sank in. "Wait, your brother's dead? That's so unfair! Why does this always happen to attractive boys?"

Aoi couldn't take it anymore- she slugged Syo right across the face. "How dare you act like this after killing Yuta! My brother never did anything to you, and you killed him!"

After recovering from the punch, all levity vanished from Syo's face. "Let me make this clear right now. I didn't kill your brother. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've never met him before."

"Then why did Mikan say that you were there when he died?" Aoi asked.

"Now hang on a minute! Who's Mikan?" Syo asked, starting to get very annoyed.

"She's the one that captured us, and…" As Aoi talked, she came to two realizations. The first being that Syo had never actually met Mikan. The second being that despite trying otherwise, Aoi ended up believing her without question.

Mikan's exact words were that her "companion" had been with Yuta. Never that they had killed him.

"Oh no. I think Mikan actually meant Toko." Aoi said, horrified. "Can I talk-?"

Before Aoi could finish her sentence, Syo put a pair of scissors under her throat. "Oh, you're not getting off that easy! You see, I'm so sick of it. Whenever anything remotely bad happens, you always blame me for it!"

"I know I jump to conclusions sometimes! But it's not like you make it easy to believe you," Aoi pointed out.

"Don't even start with that tired old excuse! I'm always expected to switch over to my sourpuss other half without so much of an apology. I have feelings too, you know!" Syo exclaimed.

The realization at how effortlessly Mikan had played her brought Aoi down to her knees. "I must really look like the total moron you see me as, don't I? But all I wanted was to know what happened to my brother. He's dead, and I don't know why!"

"If you really want to know, then I suppose I could switch over to my other side…" Syo pushed her scissors a little more into Aoi's neck. "Provided you let me have a little fun with you! It's the least you can do after throwing accusations at me for no reason."

"You know what? Do you whatever you want." Aoi intentionally relaxed her guard. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry! I let myself get tricked by our captor, and I guess I'm paying for it now."

"It's no fun when you don't put up a fight!" Syo grinned, then licked her lips. "But if you want me to take my price, then perhaps I can make it so you never talk again!"

Aoi refused to flinch, refused to cower. She looked Syo in the eyes, to show that she wouldn't go back on her word.

Syo moved the scissors away from Aoi's throat… then slashed at her left cheek instead. Aoi winced, and could feel blood drip down the side of her face.

"Okay, that's enough! At least, that should serve as a reminder to not be so quick to judge again," Genocider Syo said, licking her scissors. "For now, we're even. But don't become complacent!"

"I won't! In fact, I'll try to finally get to know you better!" Aoi declared, touching her injured cheek. "I don't know how much good it will do, but I'll at least try!"

"That's just like you, Boob Knight." On that parting line, Syo brought the taser to her temple, and shocked herself. A few minutes later, Toko got up.

"What happened? Have we reached where Mikan is yet?" Toko asked. "Wait, what happened to your face? And why does my face hurt?"

"I'll tell you later. I need to ask you something." With the pain still fresh, Aoi willed herself not to lose control. Instead, she slowly asked, "What do you know about my brother? About… Yuta?"

The reaction was immediate and obvious- anguish dominated Toko's face, and her breathing grew shallow. "I was afraid you were going to ask eventually. That's why I wanted to tell you first. But I was too much of a coward!"

Aoi didn't say anything, as much as she wanted to, forcing herself to listen patiently.

"I don't know if you remember, but when Komaru told you about our adventures, she mentioned that she was forced to wear a bracelet," Toko began. "The Warriors of Hope put that on her, and all the other participants of their sick game."

Toko took a deep breath, and continued, "We met your brother on a bridge we were trying to cross, to get out of Towa City. He had a bracelet too, because he was your hostage."

Suddenly, Aoi got a feeling she knew where this was going. Her face went pale, and she got an urge to cover her ears. Aoi didn't, and focused all her attention on Toko.

"We all found out the bridge was out, and that made Komaru lose hope. So to make her feel better, Yuta said he would try to swim to the other side, to get help for us. And I tried to stop him, I really did! I tried to tell him over and over that he didn't need to go to the effort of getting help, but it went in one ear and out the other!"

Now Toko was stumbling over her words, and her hands were clenched into fists. "Even after all my warnings, Yuta went swimming anyways! So all Komaru and me could do was watch him swim away. And then that bracelet on his wrist started blinking, faster and faster and-!"

Toko couldn't finish what she was saying, tears of frustration running down her face. Aoi was crying too, because she didn't need Toko to finish. Finally, the truth behind Yuta's death was clear. Her brave, kind brother loved to help people. Even until the very end, he was thinking of others- of Toko and Komaru, neither of who Yuta had known anything about.

"I should have dragged your brother with us by the ear away from that bridge!" Toko shouted remorsefully. "I didn't know him, but I didn't want anything bad to happen to him, because-"

 _"I'm saying don't be a hero, you idiot swimmer!"_

 _"Swimmer? But I'm in track and field!"_

"-He was your brother."

"No, you don't have to apologize. Yuta… once he set his mind to something, nothing could stop him. I knew that better than anyone." Aoi did have a final question. "But why didn't you and Komaru tell me this a long time ago?"

"You think I didn't want to?! I knew I had to tell you what happened. But every time I tried, I imagined exactly this happening," Toko confessed. "Seeing your face so… distraught. I knew that hearing about your brother's death would kill you inside. So I kept putting it off. But now this happened… I'm the worst aren't I?"

"I admit, I wish I'd known this much sooner. Still, none of this was your fault. You were actually thinking about me, and my feelings." Then a little of Aoi's flame returned- her next words were laced with anger. "If anyone's to blame, it's Mikan! She tried to use my brother's death to get us to kill each other! That kind of… awful evil can't be forgiven!"

But that was all that Aoi could manage. Her emotions burnt out, and she curled up into a ball. Kneeling down, Toko tentatively put her arms around Aoi. When the other girl didn't pull away, Toko pulled her into a hug.

The two of them stayed like that, processing their shared grief. Their shared memories of the kind, brave boy called Yuta Asahina.

* * *

 **A/N: I made myself very sad writing this chapter. But I don't see very much addressing Yuta's death, and Aoi never found out onscreen in Danganronpa canon. I hope this attempt to fix it is to everyone's satisfaction. Next chapter, our villain tries again to incite something. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


	18. Hearing voices

**A/N: And now, we've reached the point of no return. The only option left is to head for the final battle of this story. So hang on tight for the wild ride that follows. It's time for femslash!**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Hearing voices**

As Aoi emerged from her sea of grief, she became aware of Toko embracing her. The other girl had dried tears of her face, having cried with Aoi, for her. Then, Aoi became aware of how warm Toko felt. Had Toko always been this warm?

"Thanks, Toko," Aoi said quietly, still holding the other girl.

"You're finally back? Good. It's always really worrying when you aren't yourself," Toko said.

"That… might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me!" Aoi exclaimed, feeling her face became warm.

"I'm saying it because it's true," Toko said, blushing and turning away. "I still need you to do most of the fighting."

"You aren't keeping any more secrets from me, right?" Aoi asked. "I think we've reached the point where we can't keep anything from each other anymore."

"No secret on the same level as meeting with Yuta," Toko said. "The only thing I haven't told you yet is…"

Toko stopped herself, but too late- all of Aoi's attention was now focused her.

"What haven't you told me yet? Please tell me," Aoi said urgently.

"It has nothing to do with you! I mean, it has everything to do with you, but-" Toko wasn't good with words at the best of times, and now she was saying all the wrong things.

"If it's about me, then all the more reason to say it!" Aoi said firmly. "Once we're honest with each other, we can finally be close!"

Hearing those words, spoken so confidently with so little basis, triggered something inside of Toko. "In all the time I've known you, you've always had that blind optimism. It would always drive me crazy, how you never seemed to understand what's happening around you!"

Aoi pursed her lips and frowned, but otherwise let Toko keep talking, It was clear that this was something Toko was holding back for a long time now.

"But no matter how much you drove me crazy, a part of me could never keep away from you!" Toko continued, her face turning bright red. "And for the longest time, I never understood why… or rather, I didn't want to understand. Understand what I've learned in all this time I've spent with you… what I've been denying all this time!"

"Denying my feelings for you!" After Toko's declaration, Aoi could only sit there, stunned, as she processed what she just heard.

 _Did I… did I hear that right? Did I suspect that it would turn out like this?_

Thinking back on all the years they've known each other, Aoi found she did suspect that Toko might have feelings for her, deep down. Hadn't Aoi been convinced that Toko didn't truly hate her, despite all the disdain that Toko had expressed before?

And hadn't Aoi spent much of her time in the Hope's Peak Killing Game trying to befriend Toko, even without her memories?

The truth was out- Toko harbored feelings for her, may have had these feelings for much longer. The real question remained- what did Aoi feel about Toko?

After insisting that they be honest with each other, Aoi felt a bit like a hypocrite, unable to put her own feelings into words. Then again, Toko could be very difficult to deal with, so it figured that feelings related with her would be just as difficult.

Toko's expression fell as Aoi continued to remain silent. "I knew this was a mistake. You probably think I'm the grossest person ever now."

"No, not at all!" Aoi quickly exclaimed. "There's a lot for me to think about, that's all!"

"You don't have to spare my feelings, Aoi. I know I'm a dirty person," Toko said, looking down. "It took this long for us to stop arguing all the time. Wishing for anything else is selfish of me."

"Don't talk about yourself like that, Toko!" Aoi raised Toko's head so they could face each other, and the other girl did nothing to resist. "I need to tell you something too. After we got out of the killing game, I promised myself something- that I would never give up on you! It's why I've done everything I have all this time- trying to get in touch with you again, helping you and Komaru where I could, protecting you from everything that's happened in here!"

"You've never been very subtle. But why are you saying all of this now?" Toko asked.

"Because now, I want to make a different promise. A promise that I will never give up on us!" Aoi declared. "Too many times, I've let my anger get the better of me, and even treated you unfairly because of it. But I do cherish what we've finally been able to build up, and I won't let anything damage things between us ever again!"

Taking a deep breath, Aoi said, "And if what we have between us does change, and grow into something more, I want to explore that with you, together."

Now it was Toko's turn to sit there, stunned, as she looked at Aoi, and realized that the other girl was being entirely serious.

Then again, Aoi was always one to say exactly what she meant, without shame or apology. Where Toko would have found it annoying in the past, this attitude now lit the smallest, flickering flame of hope in her heart.

 _"After all this time… could it be possible that we...?"_

"Sorry to interrupt your alone time, but you need to be reminded of the situation you're in."

Mikan's voice echoed from the speaker, and by now both girls glared hatefully at it.

"You're both so resilient. Everything I've thrown at you so far has failed, and now I'm feeling like garbage."

Despite herself Aoi felt the smallest bit of pity towards Mikan, pity at how the other girl turned out to be so messed up, if nothing else.

"At this rate, you're going to reach me," Mikan continued. "But don't think I'm out of tricks just yet! We Ultimate Despairs make sure that even if we go down, we take our enemies with us."

"Are you sure you want to say that out loud? It makes me want to make your plan fail out of spite!" Aoi said hotly.

"Hee hee hee. I came so close to beating you. You're so easy to manipulate," Mikan said, giggling. "But I don't think that will work a second time. So I'll do something else!"

"Wait, what are you-?!"

The speaker shut down, leaving Aoi yelling at nothing. "Okay, that's it. We have to put an end to this today. We can't give Mikan a chance to come up with anymore cruel schemes!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Toko said, gripping onto a pair of Syo's scissors. Without further delay, the two of them headed directly for the director's office.

* * *

"Utsugi, what's your status?"

"I'm good to go, and as adorbs as a button to boot!" Kotoko exclaimed, experimentally trying the controls of her new Priest mecha.

"Komaru, do you remember what you need to do?" Makoto asked.

"When the kidnapper starts sending Monokumas to stop us, I draw their attention and make as much of a ruckus as possible," Komaru said, priming her hacking megaphone. "That way Kotoko is free to knock out power to the entire hospital."

"And once that's done, I find this mean demon that's holding Komaru's friends hostage and point my giant gun at them!" Kotoko said cheerfully. "And between me and Big Sis, the day will be saved!"

"I guess that's one way to put it," Makoto said, unsure of how else to react.

"As for Makoto and I, we will be mission command," Kyoko said, with her usual equanimity. "No plan survives contact with the enemy, so it pays to be ready for anything."

"So when do we start?" Komaru asked anxiously.

"First of all, when you and your crew take that robot outside," Mrs. Hagakure said, looking at the mech with displeasure. "It barely fits in here, and it makes everyone else in here uncomfortable."

"It looks like our time here is coming to a close," Kyoko said, smirking. "Still, we appreciate your hospitality up until now."

"Don't mention it. In my time at this base, I have seen what loss does to this person. I've seen how failure affects Koko," Mrs. Hagakure said. "So rescue your friends. And once you do, don't ever let them go."

"We'll keep that in mind! Thank you for everything, Mrs. Hagakure!" Komaru exclaimed, waving at the older woman.

"Don't forget about me! I'm ready to be a hero to the demons, just this once," Kotoko said, posing cheerfully in her mech. "This is my time to shine!"

Without another word, the motley group of four left the adult resistance base, into the spacious sewers that would lead them to the surface.

Mrs. Hagakure turned towards Byakuya, who had witnessed the entire planning session, but remained silent. "What of you, then? Not that I don't mind your company, but surely you have better places to be than here."

"I, of course, did everything in my power to make sure that my classmates could execute this plan without the Future Foundation breathing down their necks," Byakuya said, adjusting his glasses. "They are often lost without me. However, it would be best if I weren't there personally, if that girl is going to be there."

"'That girl'?" Mrs. Hagakure repeated curiously. But no further prodding could get Byakuya to elaborate what he meant.

* * *

The biggest obstacle to Mikan up until now, at least physically, was the Junk Monokuma guarding the hallway to the director's office. There it was waiting for them, unknown fluids leaking from it's joints.

"Aoi, I need you to listen to me. And don't argue with me like you usually do," Toko said urgently. "I'm going to turn into Syo. And the moment she engages the Junk Monokuma, I need you to run past it."

"You have to I wouldn't leave you! So why even bring it up?!" Aoi asked heatedly.

"Because Syo can probably handle herself against that thing. She might even find it boring," Toko said, scowling. "But what I want is for you to go straight to Mikan and force her to let us out!"

"How am I supposed to make sure you're safe, then? Mikan could send more against you while you're Syo!" Aoi pointed out.

"You do it by beating Mikan as soon as possible. This is my idea and that's final!" Toko declared. "I can be as stubborn as you if I try!"

"You know, I think I needed to hear that. Okay, I'll do it," Aoi said begrudgingly. "But if you take too long, I'll return to drag you to safety personally!"

"Deal." Toko put the taser to her head, and-

As always, there was a stretch of time that was nothing but blackness, that seemed to go on forever. Toko, ethereal consciousness that she was at that time, could do nothing but wait for this blank period to end. And then as always-

Toko woke up, and saw herself standing before a heap of scrap that used to be the Junk Monokuma. So at least, that part of the plan was a success.

Then Mikan's voice came through the speakers. "You're finally back, Toko. I thought your other half would never go away."

"Wait, where is Aoi?" The other girl was nowhere in this hallway, but if Mikan was talking then Aoi couldn't have reached her.

"She's occupied at the moment by some of my Monokumas, but in no serious danger," Mikan said. "Because I wanted to talk with you, Toko. Out of all the survivors, you were the one I wanted more than anyone."

"Why me? I'm like, the least social person on the planet," Toko said.

"That's exactly why! Because you're just like me, Toko," Mikan said.

Toko felt a chill soak into her very core at those words. "Hey, I'm not the one that decided to kidnap people and toture them for days on end!"

"No, but you are the person with an entire personality dedicated to killing," Mikan countered. "And why do I know this? Because I know exactly how you feel. Wanting to exact painful, bloody revenge against every that's wronged you."

Toko couldn't think of a single rebuttal to what Mikan was saying. In her mind, she could vividly see, vividly hear, all the bullies that kicked her, demeaned her.

"At the same time, you can't keep away, can you? I certainly know what it's like," Mikan said, sighing. "All the times I stripped my clothes off, or ate dirt, or did anything so people would pay attention to me. That's why I know why you're doing what you are."

"I don't know what you think I'm doing, but I refuse to be predictable. In fact, I'm leaving right now," Toko said, leaving to look for Aoi.

"I know why you decided to latch onto Aoi the first chance you got," Mikan said, and Toko froze.

"Aoi is superficially nice, and she's certainly attractive enough," Mikan continued, her voice dripping with malice. "So she seems so perfect when there's no one else. But it's not surprising that an author would convince herself of such a fantasy."

"You used my friend's brother as a prop in your sick game. I'm not listening to this!" But even putting her hands over her ears wasn't enough to block out the non-stop lecture from Mikan.

"And the day that she betrays you again, you won't be surprised. Because you'll put up with anything for a little attention," Mikan finished.

Again. As this word echoed in Toko's head, she remembered what Aoi had told her before. That she'd been willing to condemn her death for something Syo did.

 _We've been over this! Aoi admitted it, because she won't do it again!_

"How are you so sure? That she won't leave you to die again?"

 _Because she promised me, and I… I actually believe her._ Yet Toko didn't say this out loud. All she could do was keep going, even as Mikan's mocking laughter followed behind her.

* * *

 **A/N: By my estimation, this story will draw to a close by the end of next month. So I am eager to reach the end of this journey with everyone. This is also being published on National Coming Out day. So to all my LGBT readers, I wish you the best, whatever you decided to do! This has been Orion Fowl** **and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!**


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